Indian Leaders Join Campaign to Unearth More of ‘Lost Village’ : Excavation: Encino slow-growth gadfly gathers support in bid to delay construction of two office buildings.

Arguing that the full extent of a major archeological find on Ventura Boulevard has yet to be uncovered, an Encino slow-growth gadfly has rallied state Indian leaders and an archeologist to his campaign to get city officials to delay construction of two office buildings.

The core of the argument by Gerald Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, is that more of the “Lost Village of Encino,” discovered in 1984, must lie beneath two redevelopment sites on the north side of the boulevard between Balboa Boulevard and La Maida Street.

To date, the presence of additional Indian remains is unconfirmed, but archeologist Nancy A. Whitney-Desautels of Huntington Beach, who excavated the “Lost Village,” says she is certain it extended over a greater area than has been excavated.

“For sure, there is an archeological site over there,” she said. “It’s part of the same village complex.”

The proposed redevelopment projects are on the same block as Los Encinos State Historic Park and across the street from an office building erected on the “Lost Village” site after it was excavated.

Silver, well known for opposing virtually any new commercial development, said he is outraged that the two proposed office buildings have been cleared for construction permits without having to complete preliminary archeological surveys, and without soliciting Indians’ comments.

To Silver’s chagrin, both proposed projects were reviewed by the city Building and Safety Department, which found there was no need for a full environmental impact report (EIR) or a preliminary archeological survey.

Richard Holguin, chief of structural plan check for the building department, said that under state law, if construction workers encounter signs of the Indian village the developers will have to stop construction and a certified archeologist must be hired to conduct a study.

The official who decided that no preliminary archeological surveys were needed was on jury duty this week and unavailable for comment, an assistant said.

Silver alerted regional Indian leaders, Whitney-Desautels, and the state Native American Heritage Commission--all of whom are now expressing concern and contacting city building officials.

Richard Angulo, a Chumash who is chief of the California Indian Council, said he is not sure if anything lies under the controversial sites. But Angulo said the area was a trading place for several tribes during the 17th and 18th centuries, and that a preliminary archeological survey seemed logical.

“We’re not saying there’s a burial ground, we’re saying that it’s very funny this is across the street from a great archeological find and all of a sudden, they don’t need an EIR,” said Angulo, who is joining Silver and Whitney-Desautels in appealing the city’s findings to the Building and Safety Commission.

“My feeling is this is an unfair burden the city is putting on the landowner,” Whitney-Desautels said. “The city is putting the landowner in the position of potentially having tremendous slowdowns during the actual construction phase . . . Once he starts construction, whatever company he hires will get a daily rate for equipment even if the project is stalled” by the state requirement to complete an archeological study.

The first “lost village” dig suspended construction work for eight months.

Developers of both projects blamed Silver for stirring up trouble and said they were perplexed he was raising the issue now, after they spent months meeting with his group and another homeowners association.

“Mr. Silver is going to use any means at his disposal to delay it. This is just the latest,” said Gardena-based builder Jerry Katell, who plans a three-story, 140,000-square-foot office building on the Pic-n-Save site.

Maurice Cohen, whose family’s Studio City company plans a three-story, 48,000-square-foot office building on the site of the former Mercedes-Benz dealership, said, “I believe he is doing this--and using very poor judgment to use other people’s culture and heritage--as a means of getting his point through.”

“I’m not exploiting these people. All I did was alert them,” Silver said.

Larry Myers, executive secretary of the state Native American Heritage Commission, said his agency receives many calls from residents more concerned about development than Indian history. But he said the commission checks out every complaint anyway.

“Regardless of anyone’s motives, if what they’re saying is correct, we respond to them. My only concern is to protect some of the cultural resources,” Myers said.

BACKGROUND The first white men to come to the San Fernando Valley, the expedition of Spanish explorer Gaspar de Portola in 1769, described in their journals a large Indian village near a spring in what is now Encino. Over the years, however, the location of the village was lost. In 1984, however, workers excavating on the southeast corner of Ventura Boulevard and Balboa Boulevard made a discovery. Their find of Indian remains and other items led archeologists to believe that the workers’ discovery was part of the “Lost Village of Encino.” The excavation took eight months, cost the developer $1.7 million and led to the discovery of more than a million artifacts and the remains of about a dozen Indians. To date, the presence of additional Indian remains is unconfirmed.