VAN NUYS : Public to Hear Plan for Shopping Center

A plan to build a shopping center on an excavated site known among its Encino neighbors as “Lake Hayvenhurst” will be the subject of a public hearing in Van Nuys on Friday.

Developer Rick Caruso of Caruso Affiliated Holdings is seeking city approval to build a supermarket, bookstore and retail shop on the lot at the intersection of Ventura Boulevard and Hayvenhurst Avenue.

Caruso needs a special permit from the city to operate a 24-hour market in the area and is asking for several exceptions to a set of local zoning ordinances known as the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan.

Unlike others before it, the project has the support of the two leading homeowner groups in the area.

“Everybody agrees that this use is desirable for the site,” said Rob Glushon, a board member of the Encino Property Owners Assn. “There are just a few things that need to be worked out.”

Glushon said he would ask Caruso to provide 24-hour security at the market and to address concerns about noise and light that might disturb nearby residents on Moorpark Street.

If approved, the center would be built atop a hole dug in 1990 when the state required a previous developer to remove contaminated soil from the site, which had held a gas station with a leaking underground gas tank.

Homeowner activist Gerald Silver said he is anxious to see the project built.

“What’s not to like about this project?” asked Silver, who has fought several others in the past.

The hearing will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at the Van Nuys Woman’s Club, 14836 Sylvan St.