Residents Try to Stop a Proposed High-Rise : Development: Opponents say the 21-story building would cause traffic and parking problems and cast a shadow on their homes.

Residents of a Wilshire District neighborhood are attempting to block construction of a 21-story office and commercial building near them, arguing that it would attract too much traffic, gobble up street parking and cast a giant shadow over their homes.

More than 30 residents of the Fairfax-Wilshire neighborhood told a Los Angeles planning official this week that the proposed Wilshire Skyline building is out of keeping with their community, where many small apartment buildings date to the 1920s.

The building is planned for a site on Wilshire Boulevard just east of San Vicente Boulevard. Representatives of developer Raphael Nissel said they have gone to great lengths to make sure the high-rise is palatable to residents, including paying for a computerized traffic signal system that is supposed to keep cars moving at one of the area’s busiest intersections.

The city Planning Commission is scheduled to vote on the project Oct. 3. A recommendation on the project will be issued 10 days before the vote said Hearing Examiner Donald K. Taylor, who conducted Tuesday’s hearing at City Hall.

But the final judgment on the building will probably be made by the City Council, since the developer and community activists said they are prepared to appeal if the Planning Commission decision goes against them.

Residents near the intersection of Fairfax Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard say their fears are heightened because the Wilshire Skyline is only one of several large developments planned for the community. Office buildings are planned for two corners of Wilshire and Fairfax Avenue, where Johnnie’s coffee shop and a May Co. department store stand. And a massive redevelopment of Farmer’s Market, including a shopping center, is on the drawing board several blocks to the north.

“We don’t need another building that size in an area that has already suffered from overdevelopment,” Diana Plotkin, president of the Beverly Wilshire Homes Assn., said at the hearing.

But Craig Lawson, a consultant for the developer, said the area was designated as appropriate for high-rise development by an informal committee of architects, planners and business people that studied the question last year.

Nissel bought the property three years ago. It is home to modest buildings that house an Italian restaurant, karate studio and a beauty supply store.

Plans for Wilshire Skyline call for a ground floor with shops and a restaurant topped by eight levels of parking and 12 floors of offices. The proposed 212,000-square-foot project is the maximum allowable in the area.

Residents who live north of the site on Orange and 6th streets and La Jolla Avenue said they can’t live with such a big building. The neighbors contend that the 661 parking spaces the building will provide is 68 fewer than required by a city plan for the area.

“Most people park on the street,” said one resident, Marcia Mednick, “and they already have a struggle finding parking.”

But Lawson argued that only about 440 parking spaces would be required in much of the city for such a development. He predicted that car-pooling programs and bus lines that serve Wilshire Boulevard will reduce the need for more parking.

A traffic study for the project showed that of 14 nearby intersections, five are so jammed that they are operating at levels considered unacceptable by traffic engineers. Three others are operating at the optimum level, Lawson said.

“There are 4,000 daily trips planned coming from this project,” Mednick said, “and that will cause total gridlock.”

But representatives said the developer should not be held responsible for improving traffic problems that already exist. And Lawson said several programs are designed to prevent traffic from getting worse. These include the computerized traffic monitoring system, which features cameras that observe the flow of cars, allowing signals to be adjusted accordingly. The system will target one of the worst intersections, 6th and San Vicente.

A program also will be instituted by the builder to encourage car-pooling among employees in the building and provide parking for bicycles, Lawson said.

Residents are skeptical. “It’s a joke,” said one, Rosalie Wayne.

The neighbors received support from Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky’s office. Vivian Rescalvo, an aide to the councilman, said the building is too tall and that some buffer is needed between the structure and nearby apartments.

“If the developer cannot mitigate all the traffic and parking problems,” Rescalvo added, “then the project should not be built at all.”