GRANADA HILLS : Neighbors’ Group to Appeal Theater Plan

Fearing an infiltration of gangs, a group of Granada Hills neighbors say they will appeal a developer’s plan to build a nine-screen theater complex at 16830 Devonshire St.

Mann Theaters this week won approval for the theater, which would replace the existing J. C. Penney Co. store at the site.

Neighbors said Friday they are preparing to appeal the decision to the Los Angeles Board of Zoning Appeals by July 15. Gerhard Kochan, who lives nearby, said the group has collected several hundred signatures from residents worried that it would cause traffic and crime problems.

“North-central L.A.--Sepulveda, North Hills--is bulging at the seams,” said one opponent, Beverly Triggs. “It’s just kind of spreading north.”

Associate City Zoning Administrator Albert Landini ruled this week that if Mann Theaters abided by a set of 26 conditions, it could carry out its plan to demolish the department store and build a 2,400-seat movie house. A zoning administrator’s approval is among the requirements that must be met before Mann can get an occupancy permit.

Richard Gervais, land-use analyst for Mann, said he was surprised that neighbors would consider the theater a magnet for crime.

“Where there is activity, lights and people coming and going, there is safety in numbers,” he said. “If I was living in that neighborhood I’d be tickled pink.”

Not all the neighbors have signed on to the appeal. Irwin Spolter, who spoke in opposition to the project at an earlier hearing, said he doubted the approval would succeed.

“I’m trying to look at the positive. . . . The theater may revitalize the area,” he said.