SHERMAN OAKS : Council Panel OKs Mall Expansion

A proposed expansion of the Sherman Oaks Fashion Square mall entered the final stretch of the approval process Tuesday, when it received the blessing of a Los Angeles City Council committee.

Council members Laura Chick and Hal Bernson, of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, both voted in favor of a proposed zone change that would allow the expansion, according to Ginny Kruger, planning deputy for Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky. The other committee member, Councilman Richard Alatorre, was absent, Kruger said.

The last hurdle for the project will be the City Council’s consideration of the project, set for next Tuesday.

City Freeholds USA, the mall owner, wants a $20-million expansion project that would increase the size of the mall by nearly 20%. The expansion is opposed by nearby residents, who say the project will worsen traffic, pollution and noise.

According to Kruger, the council committee approved the zone change with the proviso that the budget for a developer-funded Neighborhood Protection Plan--which will pay for raised medians and signs that will discourage shoppers from cutting through neighborhoods--be increased by $75,000 to $175,000. In addition, the developer must post a $50,000 bond to make additional transportation improvements if they are deemed necessary.

Community activists have complained that they were not given adequate time to study a city Planning Commission report approving the zone change before the committee meeting. The report came out about noon on Monday, and the committee meeting began at about 2 p.m. Tuesday.

They also are questioning why the city Planning Department decided against launching a full-scale environmental study of the project when the department’s Environmental Staff Advisory Committee recommended that one be done.

“Planning management is overriding its own staff members’ report in order to get this thing ramrodded through,” charged Jim Young, chairman of the Fashion Square Committee of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn.

Kruger said the commission report basically reflected what the commission decided to do Nov. 3.

“There isn’t anything here that would be a surprise--it’s exactly what the Planning Commission did,” Kruger said.