NORTH HOLLYWOOD : Artists-in-Residence Zone Is Proposed

Civic leaders have proposed an “artists-in-residence zone” that would allow artists to live in commercial properties in order to boost North Hollywood’s economy and image.

“People who own commercial property could rent to an artist--which could be a painter, a sculptor, a dance school,” said Mildred Weller, a member of the North Hollywood Community Redevelopment Agency’s Project Area Committee.

“If you get an artist in there, then you get a pizza place, then you get restaurants, then you get people coming to the street to look at the various galleries.”

The targeted area includes Lankershim Boulevard from Camarillo Street to Chandler Boulevard and Magnolia Boulevard from Tujunga Avenue to Cahuenga Boulevard, in the heart of the new NoHo Arts District. The area is the focus of artistic redevelopment by a coalition that includes the Universal City/North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the city of Los Angeles’ Cultural Affairs Department, the Community Redevelopment Agency and local theatre owners.

Current zoning laws do not allow residential use of commercial property without a conditional use permit.

Landlord Stan Goldstein, who said his buildings on Lankershim Boulevard have been vacant since tough economic times forced him to sell off his mechanic shop five years ago, is in favor of the plan.

“I’m all for it,” Goldstein said. “I own two properties and have had 22 artist inquiries to this date.”

One of those inquiries came from Dianne Hedderly, a preschool teacher from Chatsworth who hoped to invest in a live-in gallery with an artist friend. But the pair scrapped the plan when they discovered it would cost about $7,000 in conditional use permits just to move in.