SHERMAN OAKS : Rivals in Galleria Dispute May Meet

A door of opportunity appears to be opening in the long-running impasse between developers who want to renovate the Sherman Oaks Galleria shopping mall and homeowners who oppose the proposed project.

Gary Holme, an activist against the project, said this week that homeowners will meet with mall officials Tuesday night in an attempt to hash out their differences. However, Cecilia Aguilera of Mayor Richard Riordan’s office, which has played a key role in bringing together the feuding sides, said she could not confirm the meeting date--because she had not yet heard from Holme.

The proposed project calls for a major renovation of the mall, at the corner of Ventura and Sepulveda boulevards, which would replace retail and office space with new restaurants, 17 movie screens and possibly a video game arcade. Two major homeowner groups from Encino and Sherman Oaks have protested that they do not want what they say would be a Universal CityWalk-type attraction in their neighborhood, saying it could attract gangs.

Aguilera has been working since mid-January to try to get the two sides to meet. In March, the mayor’s office said proposed talks had been stymied by the refusal of the Homeowners of Encino and the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. to confer with mall officials unless they scrapped their current proposal.

On Friday, Holme said he hoped the meeting would allow the two sides to begin a dialogue. He added that he would like the mall owners to hold meetings to hear what the residents would like to see happen at the site.

Linda Sonnonstine, a spokeswoman for the mall, said: “We hope to be able to sit down and talk in a forum that’s facilitated by an independent outside observer.”