East Valley : Public Input Sought on Land Use Planning

The future of development on Ventura Boulevard and at the Van Nuys Civic Center will be among the land-use issues discussed at two upcoming public workshops on community plan updates for parts of the East Valley.

Containing potential growth will likely take center stage at Wednesday’s workshop on the Sherman Oaks-Studio City-Toluca Lake Community Plan, said Duek Perrin, a city planner overseeing the area community plan.

Zoning around Metrorail Red Line stops at Sepulveda Boulevard and Oxnard Street and Van Nuys Boulevard and Oxnard Street will likely be considered at Thursday’s workshop on the Van Nuys-North Sherman Oaks Community Plan, said city planner Ron Maben, Perrin’s area counterpart.

Community plans establish which land uses--residential, commercial, industrial and the like--occur where and in what concentration. The plans are periodically updated to meet community needs.

The workshops are “an opportunity for people to have some effect on the planning of their communities,” Maben added.

Once revisions to each community plan are made, they will go before the city Planning Commission for a public hearing. They will later be considered by the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee. The full council is expected to consider the plans by December.

Wednesday’s workshop on the Sherman Oaks-Studio City-Toluca Lake area--roughly bounded by the Ventura Freeway on the north, the San Diego Freeway on the west, Mulholland Drive on the south and Burbank, Universal City and Woodrow Wilson Drive on the east--will take place between 4:30 and 8:30 p.m. at Walter Reed Middle School, 4525 Irvine Ave., North Hollywood.

Thursday’s workshop for the Van Nuys and north Sherman Oaks area--generally bounded by the Southern Pacific railroad on the north, the San Diego Freeway on the south, the Van Nuys Airport and the Sepulveda Basin on the west and the Tujunga Wash flood control basin on the east--will take place between 5 and 9 p.m. at the Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Senior Citizen Center, 5056 Van Nuys Blvd.