Unusual Hearing Scheduled for Encino Project

In an unusual public forum, the city will hold a hearing July 18 on a commercial project in Encino that is the largest, and among the most controversial, of the new developments proposed for Ventura Boulevard.

The three-story, 377,000-square-foot office building that would include movie theaters, proposed for the corner of Hayvenhurst Avenue, ordinarily would not have received a public hearing because it requires no zoning variances.

But in response to phone calls and letters from residents, city officials agreed to schedule a special meeting to explain the project’s scope and effects on the neighborhood. Perhaps most importantly, the public will have a chance to comment. The meeting will be held at the Van Nuys Woman’s Club, 14836 Sylvan St.

“It’s rare,” Cindy Miscikowski, Councilman Marvin Braude’s deputy, said of the discretionary hearing. “I would imagine it’s been done less than 10 times.”

Apart from the project’s size, its most controversial aspect is its six movie theaters--a source of concern to neighbors already frustrated by traffic spilling over from commercial Ventura Boulevard onto residential side streets.

Attorney Benjamin Reznik, who is representing developer Jona Goldrich and his partners, said the project’s design places the theaters and parking underground “so you don’t have people congregating in lines outside.

“They drive in, there’s free parking, and they’re in,” Reznik said.

But the amount of underground construction proposed is a source of concern to nearby residents who argue that the extra levels only add to the building’s mass and could have harmful effects on the water table.

Also of concern has been the developer’s state-mandated removal of contaminated soil from the site, which once held a gas station with a leaking, underground gasoline storage tank.

Homeowners have expressed fears that the developer is trying to excavate more soil than necessary as a means of starting construction before receiving a building permit. But Miscikowski said city officials have been assured that the amount of dirt to be removed is environmentally justified and not part of a secret agenda.

Gerald L. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, takes credit for forcing the city Building and Safety Department to require a full environmental impact report of the developers. Silver, who challenged the department’s initial finding that no environmental study was needed, now notes that a recently released draft report includes several adverse effects that cannot be entirely eliminated. These effects include increased nighttime lighting, shadows cast onto five adjacent houses and traffic delays at the intersection of Hayvenhurst Avenue and Ventura Boulevard.

“This shows there was no credibility in Building and Safety’s findings,” Silver said.

But Reznik called the project’s design a model for suburban planning that will address neighborhood concerns, and he said his clients welcomed the chance to dissipate fears.