Braude Backs Project After Movie Theaters Eliminated

Los Angeles City Councilman Marvin Braude agreed Tuesday to a proposal to allow developer Jona Goldrich to build a 335,000-square-foot building--but without movie theaters--at the corner of Hayvenhurst Avenue and Ventura Boulevard in Encino.

Braude unveiled his proposal at a meeting Tuesday of the council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee as it discussed the Ventura Boulevard specific plan, a long-awaited measure that is at least several weeks away from adoption by the City Council.

Braude’s approval of the project, located in his district, is the key element needed to win council approval of the development.

Benjamin M. Reznik, a lawyer who is a lobbyist for Goldrich, said the development group also supports the agreement.

The proposal, if approved by the council, would require the Goldrich group to accept about a 10% cut in the size of its project and the elimination of a five- or six-screen movie complex.

The leader of one Encino homeowner group sharply criticized the plan as a sellout, but another cautiously called it a breakthrough.

The Goldrich project would be adversely affected by the proposed Ventura Boulevard specific plan, and Reznik has repeatedly said that his client’s intent was to try to secure his city building permits before the plan goes into effect.

At a strategy meeting Monday between homeowner groups and Councilman Michael Woo, Rob L. Glushon, head of the Encino Property Owners Assn., also warned that opposition from the politically influential Goldrich might be sufficient to cause major delays in enacting the specific plan and possibly trigger a lawsuit.

Braude’s proposal would exempt the Goldrich property from the full effects of the specific plan. Braude called the compromise fair and equitable, saying it would “save us from a lot of lawsuits” by the developer against the city.

Under existing zoning laws, the Goldrich group had proposed a 375,000-square-foot structure--including a 2,000-seat movie theater complex--for the property, at the northeast corner of Hayvenhurst and Ventura.

Under the specific plan, the project would be limited to 315,000 square feet if built as an office building only, Reznik said.

In addition to scaling the project down to 335,000 square feet, the Braude plan would ban any theaters on the site and all retail outlets “other than for normal accessory retail associated with commercial office use.”

Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, called the plan a “sellout by Braude.” Reducing the size by 40,000 square feet and removing the theaters is “just throwing us a bone,” he said.

Unless the project is cut almost in half it will be unacceptable, Silver said. His group will also oppose the issuance of any conditional-use permits to allow on-site liquor sales at any restaurants in the project, Silver said.

Glushon, a lawyer who heads Encino’s other homeowner group, said neighbors have been concerned that the specific plan would not bar theaters and other late-night uses of the Goldrich property that would generate heavy nighttime and weekend traffic.

By barring theaters, Braude’s plan may be acceptable to the neighbors even though it would allow a bigger building on the site than the specific plan would permit, he said.

“It’s a question of which evil is more objectionable,” said Glushon, who called Goldrich’s agreement not to build theaters a breakthrough.