Action on Chatsworth Project Is Postponed : Development: Councilman Hal Bernson wants to review the plan to avoid a snag similar to the Porter Ranch dispute.

Stung by recent criticism of the Chatsworth-Porter Ranch District Plan, Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson won a delay Tuesday in consideration of a long-awaited development blueprint for a commercial area of Chatsworth.

Bernson said he wants to ensure that a proposed plan for the Devonshire-Topanga Canyon Commercial Corridor is “reviewed properly so we don’t get waylaid again politically” about its effects. The plan is intended to create a pedestrian-friendly shopping area with a Spanish colonial architectural motif.

Bernson said he was referring to a dispute that arose last week over the Chatsworth-Porter Ranch District Plan. Critics, including several of the six candidates challenging Bernson, attended a public hearing to complain that the proposed Chatsworth-Porter Ranch plan would make traffic significantly worse.

Bernson said the concerns were based on an environmental impact report that used outdated statistics. City planners have said they will have the report revised to include more recent data.

The councilman said he wanted to postpone the plan “so we can make sure everything is in order.” The specific plan, which would generally supersede the district plan along the commercial corridor, had been scheduled for consideration Tuesday by the City Council Planning and Land Use Management Committee, of which Bernson is the chairman.

He said the proposed plan would not be delayed for long, but did not indicate whether it would be considered before the April 9 city election.

“We’re impatient to see this approved,” he said. Asked about the delays, he replied: “Isn’t it amazing how all the controversial items come up just before election time.”

The need for a specific plan to steer development along Chatsworth’s main commercial strip away from highway-oriented uses --such as service stations, tire stores and auto-wrecking yards--was first identified in February 1987 by a Bernson-appointed citizens committee.

Affected by the plan are 17 blocks along Devonshire Street from Topanga Canyon Boulevard to Mason Avenue; along Topanga Canyon from Marilla Street to Devonshire Street; and one block north and south of Devonshire Street on Mason Avenue.

The proposed plan seeks to prevent “automotive-related uses” along the affected streets, Phyllis Winger, Bernson’s planning deputy, said. “We want to establish a good pedestrian-oriented shopping area there, a place for shoe stores, dry cleaners and clothing shops.”

Not only does the plan call for a “roll-back” of the kinds of use, but it urges the establishment of a design review board--appointed by Bernson--that would require new projects to be built in a Spanish colonial style.