ENCINO : Residents Support Streetscape Plan

Local residents gave a qualified nod of approval to a plan to landscape Ventura Boulevard--but not before they took those responsible for the plan to task for what they say are eyesores around town.

The Encino Streetscape Committee and the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan Review Board held the meeting Tuesday night at the Encino Community Center to get public comment on a conceptual streetscape plan that features a historic town center at Balboa and Ventura boulevards.

The conceptual plan calls for adding trees, street lights, banners and special paving to the boulevard to spruce it up and attract more shoppers. The proposal divides the town into three zones along Ventura Boulevard, including a pedestrian retail zone.

But the purpose of the meeting seemed lost on some residents.

“Unfortunately, everybody used the meeting as a venting of their frustrations rather than for constructive criticism,” said Brian Arial, a remodeling specialist for Ralphs.

Bill Jasper, a member of the Encino committee that organized the meeting, joked afterward that he should have provided Jeff Brain, a speaker, with a flak jacket.

Residents complained about the city-mandated removal of landscaping at Gelson’s Market and the city’s approval of the design of Adray’s, a discount store.

The pedestrian-oriented retail zone will be between Encino and Genesta avenues, the historic town center will be between Genesta and Rubio avenues, and the employment center will run between Hayvenhurst and Firmament avenues.

The town center is considered historic because Encino’s first settlers lived near the area marked by the adobe in the Los Encinos State Historic Park, and because Chumash Indian artifacts have been unearthed nearby.

About 70% of the people in the audience raised their hands when committee members asked whether they had their blessing to proceed with the conceptual plan.

“A lot of things that they identified are right on the money,” said Paul Lewis, a landscape architect who works in Encino. Lewis said he liked the idea of the community being organized into three zones. He disapproved, however, of the trees selected by the committee--jacarandas and Chinese elms, saying they shed leaves too easily.

Concerns about the proposal included the impact on traffic of trees planted in the median, the perceived overly ambitious scope of the streetscape plan, and its cost--about $1 million per mile.

Organizers said they were pleased with the better-than-expected turnout of 80 people, which they attributed to good publicity and the concern of Encino residents about the appearance of their community.

“We didn’t get to talk about streetscape as much as we would have liked,” said Brain, chairman of the Plan Review Board, “but we made the community aware of what we’re doing. They like what we’re doing, from the show of hands.”