RESEDA : Council Renews Law Limiting Businesses

A moratorium that blocks development of new pawnshops, some car shops and billiard halls in Reseda’s central business district was reinstated for six months Tuesday by the Los Angeles City Council.

The moratorium affecting areas along Sherman Way between Lindley and Wilbur avenues, and along Reseda Boulevard between Kittridge and Saticoy streets, was allowed to expire earlier this year after being extended three times since 1988.

Designed as a temporary measure--a sort of thumb in the dike to stop certain types of new businesses from starting up in the area--the moratorium was long ago supposed to be replaced by a more long-term general plan for the area.

But the general plan has been slow in coming, and lawmakers say the moratorium needs to stay in place a few more months. Council members voted 12 to 0 to reinstate it.

Ken Bernstein, planning deputy for Councilwoman Laura Chick, called the moratorium, also known as the Reseda interim control ordinance, “the first piece in the puzzle for the revitalization effort.”

Chick has said repeatedly that she wants to restore Reseda’s former glory as a central shopping district in the San Fernando Valley.

However, the area seems to attract businesses such as pawnshops and billiard halls, which neighbors say are undesirable. Last summer, in the short gap between the expiration of the moratorium and its reinstatement, a few developers jumped in and made unsuccessful attempts to set up the verboten businesses.