WOODLAND HILLS : Competitor Appeals Plans for Market

The owner of a shopping center at Ventura and Topanga Canyon boulevards on Monday appealed the Los Angeles Planning Commission’s approval of plans for a competing grocery store, saying increased traffic from the project would create hazards.

But the developer of the proposed Ralphs supermarket accused the owner of the neighboring property, Stan Weiss, of trying to protect the business of his main tenant, a Vons grocery store.

“It is very frustrating to think that a neighbor would want to do this when it’s clear that it’s strictly for economic gain,” said Harris Toibb, majority partner of Ventura-Topanga Partners, L.P. “If he could win such a case, it would cause a great harm to me, and he would benefit.”

The Planning Commission last month approved construction of a Ralphs at the 7.8-acre parcel on the northeast corner of Ventura and Topanga Canyon boulevards. The project was a compromise between Woodland Hills homeowners and Ventura-Topanga Partners, which originally had planned 10- and 13-story office buildings on the property.

The appeal filed Monday requests that the Ralphs market be shifted 25 feet to the west to allow cars and pedestrians to pass between the two shopping centers. Weiss’s attorney, Ben Reznik, said the action was based on his client’s concern for the welfare of his patrons, not a desire to thwart competition.

“The project will eliminate a convenient and safe means of vehicular access in favor of an inefficient, unsafe and circuitous circulation plan, which is wholly unworkable and detrimental to the public welfare,” the appeal said.

Toibb argued that the Planning Commission would not have approved the project if it posed a danger. But Reznik said his client also plans to appeal any building permits for the Ralphs market and, possibly, file a lawsuit to block the project, if the appeal is denied.