Drive Is Launched Against Storage Site

The way Sam Schiffman looks at it, it’s never too late to try to make a difference.

Schiffman, who admits that he only heard about a storage company’s plans to build a 40,000-square-foot storage facility at Ventura Boulevard and Vanalden Avenue last week, has begun a petition drive he hopes will spark community opposition to the project.

“I haven’t found anyone who is for this proposal. Everyone is against it,” said Schiffman, 68, a real estate agent and Tarzana resident for 31 years.

The tree-lined property, which for more than 50 years had been the home of Garden Statuary, was purchased last year by Public Storage Inc. In addition to creating a storage facility, the Glendale company plans to rent a small fleet of moving trucks on the site.

Citing traffic concerns, the Tarzana Property Owners Assn., which represents more than 600 families in the area, recently filed an appeal with the city’s zoning board over a variance that would allow the company to store moving trucks on the property. Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski has supported the appeal, saying that she does not believe a storage facility is appropriate for that stretch of Ventura Boulevard.

Public Storage officials insist that their building will be pleasing to the eye and the facility will not contribute to traffic congestion in the area.

But Schiffman, who, like the property owners group and Miscikowski, acknowledges that the company has the legal right to build at the site, said he will nonetheless try to drum up enough opposition to keep Public Storage from proceeding with its plans.

“It’s going to be detrimental to the whole community,” Schiffman said.

The homeowners group, of which Schiffman is a member, has chartered a bus to ferry opponents to the Sept. 9 meeting of the Board of Zoning Appeals, where the variance will be reviewed.

Schiffman said he expects to have 500 signatures by then.

“This is just poor planning by the city,” Schiffman said. “They never should have allowed this in the first place.”