VAN NUYS : Hour Restrictions Continued at Store

A 7-Eleven store in Van Nuys must continue to abide by restrictions limiting its hours of operation and mandating a security guard every night, a Los Angeles zoning official decided Friday.

The ruling on the store at 15317 Vanowen St. was a victory for a group of nearby residents who said the shorter hours and guard had reduced crime in the drug- and prostitute-infested area. But others lamented the lack of a convenient place to get a sandwich and sundries early in the morning.

“It’s good for me,” said Dr. Karen Feldman, whose dental office is near the store.

At the hearing, intended to review restrictions imposed 20 months ago, Associate Zoning Administrator James J. Crisp could have imposed tougher restrictions or allowed the request of franchise owner Abdul Ghulamhussain and Southland Corp., which owns 7-Eleven, to keep the store open 24 hours a day and post a guard on weekend nights only. Crisp did neither.

“There has been an attempt to try to work in the community,” Crisp said. “I’m impressed with the fact that there have been no (Alcoholic Beverage Control) violations and no arrests on the site” in the ensuing time period, he said.

But Crisp said zoning officials throughout the city are denying business requests to be open for 24 hours, due to the “changing social environment” and the crime that such businesses seem to attract.

Rod Archer, a zoning consultant for the Southland Corp., said he was disappointed by the decision, which 7-Eleven may appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals. He said a decision will be made within the next week.

In May, 1992, the board called the convenience store a public nuisance that fostered prostitution and drug sales, and ordered it to cut back its 24-hour schedule to 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. on weekdays and Saturdays and until midnight on Sundays. Since then, Ghulamhussain has worked with local Neighborhood Watch and Business Watch leaders in an effort to reduce crime near his store. Several residents said the businesses that share a parking lot with the 7-Eleven are allowing crime to flourish.

Don Schultz, a community leader who supported continuation of the restrictions, said he and Flip Smith, co-chairman of the Sepulveda Boulevard Business Watch, plan to ask property owners of those businesses to do something about the problem.