Group Urges Reducing Scope of Ventura Boulevard Plan

A Ventura Boulevard planning group recommended Thursday that city officials reduce the scope and cost of a plan to upgrade the San Fernando Valley’s main commercial strip and guide its growth into the next century.

“We recommended that the focus not just be on road widening, as it seemed to be in the past, and that some more pedestrian enhancement be included as well,” said Jeff Brain, chairman of the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan Review Board.

The group asked the city Planning Commission to revise the goals of the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan and thus reduce costs from $220 million to about $100 million. The group also urged the commission to find other sources of funding for the plan, which was to rely heavily on fees levied upon businesses for traffic improvements.

Brain said that such “trip fees”--or a charge to business owners for each afternoon car trip their property generates--should be reduced and that a planned assessment district charge each business less.

“We asked the Planning Commission that economic focus be more on outside funding,” Brain said.

During a visit to Ventura Boulevard last week, U.S. Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown promised that the Clinton Administration would facilitate grant money so businesses could get back on their feet quickly following last month’s earthquake, which caused more than $41 million in structural damage to buildings along the boulevard.

The Planning Commission agreed to consider the recommendations.