Senior Housing Proposed Above City Parking Lot : Zoning: The Jewish Federation Council wants to build apartments across from a tony retail area in Sherman Oaks.

Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky proposed Tuesday that a nonprofit group be allowed to build 83 apartments for low-income senior citizens over a public parking lot next to a stylish Sherman Oaks retail strip that is acquiring the reputation of “the Melrose of the Valley.”

Yaroslavsky’s zoning motion was the second he has introduced in recent days to assist a Jewish Federation Council proposal to build senior housing at 14559 Dickens St., currently the site of a city-owned, 137-space parking lot.

Last week, Yaroslavsky urged the council to sell the Jewish group the air rights over the parking lot for $1.66 million. Under the deal, the city would get also get 72 additional public parking spaces, some of them underground.

The two-story apartment project would be built on supporting columns above the lot, preserving the parking spaces at ground level.

Both Yaroslavsky motions have been referred to council committees for study.

The parking lot is a block south of Ventura Boulevard and serves a retail area dominated by fashionable cafes and shops, many of them youth-oriented shops, like the Gap, Tower Records and Banana Republic. Because of its patrons and ambience, the neighborhood has become known as the “Melrose Avenue of the Valley,” after the stylish shopping street in Hollywood.

Yaroslavsky aide Marlene Bronson said the Jewish Federation needs to obtain a federal Housing and Urban Development grant before the apartments could be built. Last year, she said, HUD turned down a grant application for the same project.

Yaroslavsky sponsored construction of housing for senior citizens over two other city-owned parking lots in his district, both in the Pico-Robertson area. One of these projects also was built by the Jewish Federation.

Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., said his group supports the latest project.

“We’ve had a lot of complaints about youths congregating in this lot and using drugs,” Close said. “Senior citizen housing would be a benefit because it would get rid of this kind of congregating. It’s not the crime spot of the Valley, but it’s a problem for our community.”

Although both Bronson and police officials said they were not aware of any drug problem at the parking lot, the Yaroslavsky aide said the area has recently experienced an increase in graffiti.

Ann Lepis, director of the city’s parking management bureau, said the city would seek to be reimbursed by the Jewish Federation for parking meter revenues lost during construction. Under the motion he introduced Tuesday, Yaroslavsky urged that the lot be zoned to permit residential use, that a 50% density bonus be granted and that the local community plan be amended to allow the housing.