More People Try to Break Links With Sepulveda : Boundaries: A group of Northridge residents want its own ZIP code. Another group considers ‘North Hills’ proposal.

Residents who want to have Sepulveda renamed North Hills are not alone in their desire to disassociate themselves from the beleaguered community.

Two other groups also are trying to distance themselves from Sepulveda, a central San Fernando Valley neighborhood whose deteriorating image was further tarnished by police barricades erected last year to thwart drive-by drug trafficking.

One group of about 1,000 homeowners lives in Northridge but falls within the Sepulveda ZIP code zone. They are so disenchanted with Sepulveda that they are threatening a class-action suit against the post office to get their ZIP code changed.

“Sepulveda is just a dirty name,” said Stuart Warneck, 33, of Northridge. “We’d be able to sell our homes for $40,000 to $60,000 more if we weren’t in this ZIP code.”

Another group of about 1,000 residents is contemplating joining the secession movement. The homeowners, who live in Sepulveda east of the San Diego Freeway, are petitioning to be included in North Hills if the name change is approved for residents living west of the freeway.

Residents west of the freeway proposed the name change in September, arguing that the freeway forms a natural dividing line between two distinct communities, which should bear different names.

West of the freeway, the original separatists say, Sepulveda consists almost exclusively of single-family dwellings, but east of the freeway the streets are lined with apartment buildings, condominiums and high-density business developments.

But some residents who live east of the freeway and north of Nordhoff Street say their single-family neighborhoods bear a closer resemblance to those on the west side than to the higher-density area in the southeast portion of Sepulveda.

“We’re really not for dividing the area up, but if it gets divided, we want to be part of the new community,” Brigitte Siatos said. “It would devalue our property values otherwise.”

Michael Ribons, a westside resident and organizer of the original secession movement, said the two sides of the freeway are distinct communities and should have separate names.

The Sepulveda Homeowners Assn., which spans both sides of the freeway, is holding a meeting Tuesday to discuss the secession issue.

Sepulveda was named after the family of Francisco Sepulveda, who owned a ranch in Los Angeles in the early 1800s and was the city’s acting mayor in 1825. The family gave its name to Sepulveda Boulevard, which runs north through the Valley.

Postal boundaries include Balboa Boulevard on the west, Natick Avenue on the east, Roscoe Boulevard on the south and Devonshire Street on the north.

Last fall, police erected barricades to curtail drive-by drug sales in two Sepulveda neighborhoods east of the freeway. The barricades drew attention to other longstanding problems in the area, such as overcrowding and prostitution on Sepulveda Boulevard.

“I understand the residents’ consternation with Sepulveda,” said Greig Smith, chief deputy to Councilman Hal Bernson, who represents the western portion of Sepulveda. “It’s just like Watts. Watts has some very nice areas too, but it has a stigma that it will never lose because of the 1964 riots.”

Three city councilmen represent Sepulveda--Bernson, Joel Wachs and Ernani Bernardi.

Bernson, who represents residents west of the freeway, has said he will approve the name change if a majority of the 4,000 homeowners sign petitions in favor of it. So far, Ribons’ group has collected about 2,500 signatures, Ribons said.

Arline DeSanctis, Wachs’ chief field deputy, said Wachs will also support the majority of homeowners in the area he represents on the east side of the freeway if they want to be included in the name change. But DeSanctis said Sepulveda’s problems have been greatly exaggerated.

“I don’t think it’s as bad as people think it is,” she said. “Sometimes I think people just see girls wearing modern clothes and mislabel them” as prostitutes.

But Warneck and other Northridge residents who fall within the Sepulveda ZIP code boundaries are convinced their property values are lower as a result. They also say they pay more for auto and home insurance.

However, two insurance companies with local offices Friday quoted the same auto rates for a 2-year-old, four-door Honda Civic regardless of whether the motorist had Northridge or Sepulveda addresses.

Local postal officials have rejected Warneck’s request for a ZIP code change, saying it would be costly and inefficient, partly because it would necessitate notifying postal officials in the other 42,833 ZIP codes.