Panel Backs Plan for Reseda : Revitalization: City commissioners approve a compromise proposal designed to lure shoppers to the central business district.

The Los Angeles City Planning Commission on Thursday approved a revitalization plan for Reseda’s business district--the subject of years of community debate--which will allow controlled expansion of auto-related businesses and construction of apartments in commercial areas.

The plan--officially called the Reseda Central Business District Specific Plan--also calls for a three-story limit on new construction, a ban on all new roof signs and 20-foot landscaped buffers between businesses and residential areas.

The plan, which is expected to go before the City Council land-use management subcommittee in June and to the full council in July, is a compromise among various proposals that have been heatedly discussed over the past year.

Councilwoman Joy Picus, who represents Reseda, appointed a 14-member citizens advisory committee nearly three years ago to explore ways to revitalize the area and attract more shoppers. Once the shopping hub for the west San Fernando Valley, Reseda’s central business district has been slowly dying since the 1970s, when a proliferation of enclosed shopping malls drew shoppers away.

Today, much of the area--generally along Reseda Boulevard between Saticoy and Kittridge streets and along Sherman Way between Wilbur and Hesperia avenues--is occupied by so many auto-related businesses that it is regarded as the car repair capital of the Valley.

The committee in July proposed improvements such as signs, plazas and landscaping, along with more parking and pedestrian access. The committee also suggested that certain types of businesses--particularly auto-related ones--should be discouraged and that construction of housing be allowed in commercial areas as an incentive to developers.

But many longtime merchants and residents opposed the plan, forcing the Planning Commission in August to send it back to the city planning staff for reevaluation. The plan adopted Thursday reflected a consensus worked out in meetings between city staff and community groups.

“This plan is not so Draconian,” said Jim Dawson, an aide to Picus. “Instead of discouraging development, it will encourage development.”

“It’s fair,” said businessman Jon Lorenzen, who formed a merchants group called Community Organization of Reseda to oppose the committee’s proposal.

The primary areas of dispute between residents and merchants were whether to allow housing in commercial areas, whether new auto-related businesses should be banned and what types of signs should be allowed.

Although there seemed to be unanimous community opposition to allowing housing in commercial areas, community leaders said the commission approved the proposal because Mayor Tom Bradley wants all new community plans in the city to include housing for low- and moderate-income families. Commission members could not be reached for comment.

Under the compromise, new auto-related businesses and existing ones that wish to expand by more than 20% would be subject to a community review process to determine their compatibility with the surrounding area.

The planning staff had proposed that new roof signs be banned in a so-called Pedestrian-Oriented District--along Sherman Way and bounded by Wyandotte and Hart streets and Lindley and Amigo avenues--envisioned as a street of trendy shops similar to Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks.

But merchants complained that it would be unfair to allow businesses just outside the pedestrian district to have signs that a neighboring competitor would be forbidden to erect, and the commission decided to ban new roof signs for the entire business district.