SHERMAN OAKS : Redevelopment Plan Draws Mixed Review

Residents and business people expressed mixed reactions to a Community Redevelopment Agency proposal to create an emergency redevelopment area in Sherman Oaks at a community meeting this week.

The meeting elicited sharply different responses in people.

“I think overall the meeting went well,” CRA project manager Lillian Burkenheim said. “It was a farce,” homeowner activist Scott Harvey said.

About 100 people attended the second of two CRA meetings Wednesday evening at Millikan Middle School.

Several commented on the proposal, according to some who attended. Burkenheim said about half were in favor of the plan and half were opposed. Harvey said most were critical of the plan.

The CRA has proposed creating a 570-acre redevelopment area in Sherman Oaks, which was heavily damaged by the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake. The proposal calls for using local property tax revenues to rebuild wrecked residences and commercial buildings.

The Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. has come out against the proposal as it stands, saying it does not specifically limit the CRA’s powers of eminent domain, commit a set percentage of the project’s $18.8-million budget to residential repair or safeguard a property owner’s discretion to pay contractors less than union scale if they do not use CRA money.

On the other hand, the Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce has endorsed the proposal, saying it would provide funds for residential rebuilding, has a good sense of priorities, and adequately limits the CRA’s powers of eminent domain and planning.

Harvey, co-chairman of the homeowner association’s CRA Study Committee, complained that the format of the meeting discouraged people from learning from each other and from community groups.

Representatives from the CRA and Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky’s office presented the draft proposal. Then, those attending could ask questions of individual officials in booths. Lastly, people were called back together for a public comment period.

Harvey said most who were unfamiliar with the subject grew tired and left during the last period.

The meeting was structured just fine, Burkenheim responded.

Burkenheim said a third community meeting will be held because some business areas were not properly notified of the first two meetings.