Tighter Plan Sought for Ventura Blvd. : Development: Councilman Woo wants the city to be able to stop or downsize projects along the corridor that threaten to clog specific intersections.

Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo told leaders of homeowner groups Monday that he wants to tighten up the Ventura Boulevard specific plan to halt development at the boulevard’s most traffic-choked intersections.

Woo warned, however, that any far-reaching changes in the plan as it now stands might increase the difficulty of passing the changes.

Woo, who represents portions of Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks and Studio City, is one of three members of the council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee, which is scheduled to review the plan today.

The plan, which has been under study for five years, is designed to limit future commercial development along the Ventura Boulevard corridor from Cahuenga Pass to Woodland Hills, often called the Valley’s Main Street.

Woo and his staff said they want to determine if the city’s Department of Transportation is empowered--or can be empowered by the Ventura plan--to stop or downsize a particular development along the boulevard when it threatens to create unmanageable traffic.

“My intention is to ask the city attorney’s office if we can stop development at ‘F level’ intersections, or what additional mitigation measures we can get,” Woo told a dozen leaders of homeowner groups from Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana, Woodland Hills and Studio City. Intersections are designated “F level” by city traffic engineers when they produce traffic jams large enough to spill over and clog neighboring intersections.

As proposed, the Ventura Boulevard plan does not provide a specific mechanism to slow or stop development at particular intersections.

The plan would permit 8.6 million square feet of additional commercial development, increasing by 44% the 19 million square feet that exists now and generating 30,000 more auto trips on the boulevard during the peak afternoon rush hour, bringing the total to 100,000.

Under the plan, commercial property developers would pay hefty fees to the city that would be used to finance a nearly $200-million remake of the boulevard to cope with the load, ranging from widening the street to installing left-turn lanes.

But Woo also said he did not want to jeopardize a speedy enactment of the complicated specific plan by proposing major reforms that would require more study and possibly more votes to approve.

Woo also said he will consider introducing a separate 90-day moratorium on Ventura Boulevard development, to take effect after enactment of the specific plan, to give city officials time to acquaint themselves with the plan’s intricacies so they do not mistakenly approve projects not permitted by it.

“Unless we have some moratorium in place,” Woo said, “we’ll have all those projects rushing ahead, trying to beat the city’s ability to implement the plan.”

A moratorium “would send out a really tough message,” he said.

Meanwhile, leaders of Encino and Sherman Oaks homeowner groups said they wanted to strengthen the height restrictions of the proposed plan, ban temporary advertising signs and make it more difficult to close alleys.

But Woo warned them that altering the plan too much might trigger a provision of city law requiring that the plan be approved by 10 votes in the City Council instead of the normal eight-vote majority.

If the city’s planning director declares that the planning committee has recommended a plan significantly different from what the Planning Commission approved, he may disapprove it--a move that would require 10 council votes to override.