Panel Orders Monitoring of Project Near ‘Lost Village’

The city Building and Safety Commission on Tuesday ordered that experts monitor earthmoving at a Ventura Boulevard building project near the “Lost Village of Encino” archeological site for possible discovery of Indian artifacts--despite a prominent archeologist’s testimony that a pre-construction survey was preferable.

The commission also held that the Building and Safety Department made no mistake when it issued a building permit for the project without requiring an initial archeological investigation, although the city Planning Department had previously said the proposed construction site “is located within a sensitive area envelope for archeological resources.”

Mark Raab, director of the Center for Public Archeology at Cal State Northridge, spoke at the commission’s 90-minute hearing in Van Nuys, unsuccessfully urging that a preliminary survey be conducted.

Raab also said he was troubled by the Building and Safety Department’s apparent failure to acknowledge the proximity of the “Lost Village,” a major archeological find in 1984 in which more than 1 million Indian artifacts were unearthed at the southeast corner of Ventura and Balboa boulevards.

The nearby construction project cleared by the department is a block away, on the north side of Ventura Boulevard at La Maida Street.

“Given the history of these locations, the proximity to the discovery across the street, I think it was imprudent to issue a ‘negative declaration,’ ” Raab said, referring to the city’s finding that no preliminary environmental or archeological studies were necessary.

In taking its action Tuesday, the commission followed the recommendations of a Planning Department committee, which said both an archeologist and an American Indian representative should monitor grading and any other underground work.

Under the adopted recommendations, the archeologist will be authorized to stop construction for 90 days if artifacts are found. The commission would have to approve any longer building delays.

Raab had suggested that before construction begins, a series of small holes or trenches could be dug for a sampling of what lies underground--and to ensure that any artifacts be protected from heavy building and grading equipment. He said that procedure often costs less and takes less time than the monitoring recommended by the Planning Department. Artifacts lose much of their scientific value if they are not studied where they are found, which helps place the objects in context, he said.

Raab’s proposal was the method favored by neighborhood activists, some of whom oppose construction of the three-story, 48,000-square-foot office building.

Developer Maurice Cohen of Studio City told the commission he was eager to begin construction, had already hired an archeologist, and would go along with either plan.

When it became clear the commission was going to approve the monitoring system, Cohen objected to the archeologist’s power to halt construction and to the need for a daily Indian observer, but the commission overruled him.