Sherman Oaks : Feuer Supports Some Changes at Galleria

In a decision unlikely either to satisfy or aggravate the concerns of homeowner activists, Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Feuer gave a partial endorsement Monday to a $30-million proposal to revive the ailing Sherman Oaks Galleria.

At a public hearing held by the city planning department at the Sherman Oaks Woman’s Club, Jane Blumenfeld, Feuer’s chief of staff, said the councilman supports mall owners’ plans to add 13 movie screens to the existing third-floor theater complex--which would bring the total to 18 screens.

However, Feuer wants the mall to receive only eight liquor permits, two fewer than requested by mall owners, Blumenfeld said. In addition, Feuer said he would like two of those to be restricted to beer and wine sales.

Feuer wrote in a letter to planners that he was “convinced that an 18-screen, 4,000-seat complex will attract patrons and reinvigorate the mall without impacting the surrounding neighborhoods.”

Under the mall owners’ proposal, 27,000 square feet of restaurants would be added, an office building at the northwest corner of Ventura Boulevard and Sepulveda Boulevard would be torn down to create an open-air plaza, and the total size of the mall would be reduced by 7%. Homeowner activists from Sherman Oaks and Encino have complained that 4,000 theater seats is too many, that 10 liquor permits are excessive and that the planned theater-complex expansion would blur the mall’s intended retail focus. However, several months of negotiations between mall representatives and community leaders have resulted in a number of changes to the project and have closed the gap between the two sides.