Panel Discusses the Future of Ventura Boulevard : Planners: Much of the talk focuses on whether the thoroughfare should be considered a regional or a local street.

Should Ventura Boulevard be a mini-freeway, or should it be a pedestrian-oriented shopping street?

That was the question Thursday for Los Angeles planning commissioners who discussed where they would get the money to pay for street widenings over the next two decades.

Commissioner Marna Schnabel said the first issue to be addressed in the discussion of the boulevard’s 20-year master plan is “clarity on what is Ventura Boulevard. It’s a shopping district that has a major thoroughfare going through it.”

The Planning Commission met Thursday at the Sherman Oaks Woman’s Club to discuss, among other topics, the elimination of “trip” fees--assessments that boulevard developers have to pay based on the number of car trips that city officials estimate their developments would generate. The fees were to help pay for the costs of the intersection widenings called for by the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan.

The commission ended up putting off that issue until its Feb. 9 meeting. But talk of who should pay for the plan--whether developers or the state or federal government--spawned a discussion on whether Ventura Boulevard should be considered a regional or local street.

The commission asked planning staff employees to poll boulevard merchants and residents about their opinions on the issue at a workshop, during which city officials will also make available details on proposed changes in the master plan.

In addition to lowering fees and reducing the budget for intersection widenings, the proposal provides for payment of refunds to developers who have already paid excessive trip fees. The workshop will be held Saturday, Jan. 7.

Of the commissioners, Schnabel seemed most receptive to regarding the boulevard as a major transportation artery, while Robert L. Scott seemed to have the most misgivings.

“The reality is that it is an alternate route” to the Ventura Freeway, Schnabel said.

Scott responded, “The more we make it an alternate route, the more people will use it.”

Under changes proposed by the planning and transportation departments, trip fees would be replaced by fees that are about 50% lower, based on the square footage of new developments.

The lower fees are based on a $77-million working budget for the plan, which now has a $222-million budget.

The commission decided to put off a decision on the trip fees and hold the workshop at the request of community activists who said they need more time and information to evaluate the proposed plan changes.

Jeff Brain, chairman of the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan Review Board, presented the commission with letters signed by every homeowner association and chamber of commerce along the boulevard from Woodland Hills to Universal City--except for Homeowners of Encino and the Studio City Residents Assn.--which, according to Brain, opposed the idea of Ventura Boulevard as a regional thoroughfare.

Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, criticized the proposed budget reductions, saying too few intersections can be widened under the proposed budget of $19 million, down from $152 million.

“Money is going to have to be generated in much bigger numbers than what we have here,” Silver said.

Brain said he was happy about the commission’s decision to give him and other community activists more time to review the proposed changes.

“There are too many details that we have not been able to see,” he said.