NORTH HOLLYWOOD : Planners to Discuss Arts Area Proposal

In a move that reflects the growing support for the proposed creation of a North Hollywood artists-in-residence zone like the famous SoHo artists’ community in lower Manhattan, the city Planning Commission will discuss the proposal at next month’s meeting, city officials said Tuesday.

The proposal will be added to the Sept. 9 or Sept. 23 agenda for commissioners to receive feedback from the community and discuss the possibility of loosening the time-consuming and costly conditional-use permit process for the NoHo art district.

“This is a perfect example of a local community pulling itself up by the bootstraps and doing a natural flow redevelopment of their business district,” said Bob Scott, an appointed but unconfirmed city planning commissioner who asked the commission last week to put the idea on the agenda.

“When you’re talking about a particular retail location, it’s just not cost-effective for a property owner to go through the entire conditional-use process in order to rent out to an artist in residence,” Scott said. “Since this is something that everybody seems unanimous on, it just seems like the Planning Department ought not to stand in the way.”

Scott, who may be confirmed as a planning commissioner by the Sept. 9 meeting, said he would like to see the commission pass a zoning ordinance to allow commercial properties to be quickly converted into residential use, without the long wait of 60 to 75 days normally associated with applying for a conditional-use permit.

The target area, known informally as the NoHo arts district, includes Lankershim Boulevard from Camarillo Street to Chandler Boulevard, and Magnolia Boulevard from Tujunga Avenue to Cahuenga Boulevard.

The area has been promoted as an artistic redevelopment zone by the Universal City/North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, the Community Redevelopment Agency, the city of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department and local theater and property owners. Leaders of these groups believe that the infusion of artists who live and sell their crafts in the area would bolster the local economy.