TARZANA : Home Child-Care Center Wins OK

A child-care center proposed for one of a small cluster of houses along Ventura Boulevard won conditional approval Monday from a Los Angeles zoning official.

Zoning administrator Albert Landini said conditions governing the center’s hours of operation, total number of clients and other details would be included in a written report to be released next month.

Nearly two dozen residents and an aide to City Councilman Marvin Braude spoke in favor of the project, which will provide day care, art and computer lessons and other activities.

“This is something that is just going to have a very positive impact on the kids,” said Dotti Russell, who with her husband, Graham, will run the center at the intersection of Ventura Boulevard and Garden Grove Avenue.

The area is considered sensitive by city planners because it is the only spot on 17-mile Ventura Boulevard that has residential structures. Critics worry that allowing a commercial operation such as child care would set a precedent for converting the other houses to commercial use. But Cindy Miscicowksi, planning deputy to Braude, disagreed.

“This is something that fits in with the neighborhood as a whole,” she said. “It is not the first step of opening this area to future commercial inroads.”

No one spoke against the project, but a representative of a local homeowner group asked that conditions be imposed on its hours, size and appearance.

“We’ve been very protective of land use and zoning in this community,” said Irma Dobbyn of the Tarzana Property Owners Assn. “We’re concerned with the long-term picture.”