SHERMAN OAKS : City Official Backs Mall Expansion Plan

A controversial plan to expand Sherman Oaks Fashion Square has won the support of a city hearing examiner, who will recommend the proposal to the Planning Commission on Thursday.

But homeowners said there is still a long way to go before they are satisfied with the $20-million proposal, which would increase the size of the mall 20%.

“It’s not over till it’s over,” said Tybe Drum, president of the Sherman Oaks Property Owners Assn., which has sent out hundreds of flyers opposing the project.

The Los Angeles Planning Commission will hear the recommendations of Hearing Examiner Eric Ritter when it meets at 9:30 a.m. at the Airtel Plaza Hotel, 7277 Valjean Ave., Van Nuys.

Mall officials hope to expand the shopping center by attracting an upscale department store to replace the I. Magnin store that left last year. Critics say the expansion does not do enough to deal with added traffic congestion and noise.

“We just don’t feel there is enough space for this project,” Drum said.

Ritter said Tuesday that he supports the proposed expansion, with several modifications.

“We’re not going to see a lot of expansion here,” Ritter said. “What we are going to see is the former site of the I. Magnin department store expanded so that the site can have a third anchor department store.”

Ritter’s most significant modifications to the proposal include an increase from 3,843 to 4,388 parking spaces, a plan to re-landscape the front of the mall along Riverside Drive and a Neighborhood Protection Plan.

The plan would deal with concerns about traffic in the area north of the mall, said Allen Abshez, the attorney for the mall’s owners, City Freeholds USA.

Under the plan, mall owners would post an as-yet unspecified bond that surrounding residents could use to deal with traffic problems, such as overflow parking and cutting through residential neighborhoods to reach the mall.

Abshez said the mall has generated more than 4,000 signatures from residents supporting the expansion.