Bank Project Gets Mixed Reviews : Ventura Boulevard: The developer sought public input in the planning of complex, but some Encino homeowners are not happy with the results.

Imperial Bank was trying to involve the community in its plans for a Ventura Boulevard development almost two months ago when it hosted a charrette--a meeting where residents told the bank what they want built on the controversial lot.

But the project that the Inglewood-based bank later proposed--nearly a half-million square feet of offices, stores and residences clustered in a Mediterranean village theme--is getting mixed reviews. While some residents praised the project for incorporating their ideas, others were less satisfied.

“It was clear that the public wants a smaller project,” said Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino. “One has to ask, ‘Is this really a charrette, or is it a charade?’ ”

Even though it is about 100,000 square feet larger than one negotiated with an earlier developer, Imperial Bank officials say the mixed-use complex they want to build at Ventura and Hayvenhurst Avenue incorporates many ideas from the community.

“We are listening,” said bank Senior Vice President David Blitz. “Quite frankly, my feeling is we’ve come very close to the mark based on conversations I’ve had with people in the community.”

Blitz and other bank officials know well the importance of getting community backing. An earlier project proposed for the site met all Encino zoning rules, but the traffic it would have caused rubbed residents the wrong way. They worked with City Councilman Marvin Braude, who represents the area, and got the city to require an environmental impact study that caused a yearlong delay.

The delay drained the developer’s finances and the bank, the lender on the earlier project, foreclosed.

The new proposal includes restaurants, 198 upscale condominiums and 30 lower-priced apartments for senior citizens, architect Craig Kronenberg said. A 10,000-square-foot community center and a public park would also be built on the 5.8-acre lot.

Numerous small courtyards and buildings of varying heights would carry out the village theme and give the development an open feeling, Kronenberg said. A 45,000-square-foot supermarket and 1,125 parking spaces will be hidden underground.

Blitz said that traffic studies commissioned by the bank had determined that the project would generate 9% fewer car trips than a 380,000-square-foot office building previously approved for the site by the city but never built.

Not that the plans for the bank’s project are set in stone. “We’re still looking to get a bit more input from the community,” Blitz said.

During the next two weeks, Blitz will go door-to-door in neighborhoods near the site to get additional suggestions about the project. The bank also has asked residents to help them choose a name for the project. And, another charrette--a French tradition designed to encourage community participation--is planned for September.

In addition to winning over the homeowners, the bank will also need to persuade city planning officials to let them go ahead with their plans.

City planning officials said they could not determine at this point whether the project would fit in with the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan, which governs development in the area. However, Blitz said that the project would probably require an exemption from the Specific Plan’s density limitations--making approval by homeowners, who typically protest such exceptions, even more important.

The bank hopes getting a project approved by the city will make the property--which it wants to sell for more than $18 million--more marketable, Blitz said.

Homeowner activist Silver said the project is not an improvement over previous plans. Roy Rowan, who lives about 1 1/2 miles from the project, said he opposes the supermarket because of the traffic it would cause.

Other residents, however, said they were pleased by what they had seen.

“At this point, we’re very encouraged,” said Rob Glushon, president of the Encino Property Owners Assn. “We have made much progress in working toward a consensus that would lead to our support of it.”

Encino resident Sally Mendelsohn agreed. “It looked very nice. As far as I could tell, they followed residents’ suggestions,” she said.