SHERMAN OAKS : Group Critical of Redevelopment Plan

The Community Redevelopment Agency this week released a draft plan for creating a redevelopment area in Sherman Oaks, but community leaders say it fails to adequately address their demand that the public have a say in the project.

One of the ways the CRA may solicit public comments is by appointing a community advisory committee, according to the draft plan, which was issued Tuesday. The tentative plan also calls for building more affordable housing, improving streets and sewers, and requiring all new development to comply with the redevelopment plan.

The community advisory committee concept “is a good idea, but it doesn’t go far enough,” said Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks homeowners’ group. “This committee will have no power except to indicate what it wants. The CRA can completely disregard those goals.”

The earthquake inflicted massive damage on buildings in Sherman Oaks, which subsequently suffered economic aftershocks as well.

Redevelopment would mean an infusion of much-needed dollars for rebuilding, but skeptics fear that it could have negative repercussions on Sherman Oaks.

Community leader Jeff Brain said if the Los Angeles City Council approves the plan, he would like it to adopt a companion ordinance that specifies what improvements would be made in the redevelopment area.

“The community will attempt to take all the planning issues and decisions out of the hands of the CRA,” Brain said. “(The CRA’s) only role would be a funding role, collecting the tax increment and funding a bond issue.”

The money for redevelopment would come from the tax increment, or the increase in property taxes expected as a result of redevelopment.