Public Input Sought on Plan for Ventura Blvd.

The Los Angeles Planning Department will hold several open houses and public hearings in the next month to hear the views of residents and business owners on improving the look of Ventura Boulevard.

City planning officials and participants will consider an amendment to a city planning document outlining potential improvements to a 15-mile stretch of Ventura Boulevard, said Deuk Perrin, a supervising city planner.

“Now is a very important time,” Perrin said Friday. “There is a lot of interest to improve the look of the boulevard. People will want to shop there if it looks neat and safe.”

Building heights, setbacks and other land-use issues will be discussed at the meetings, Perrin said.

“We’ll take a closer look at what the community wishes to see there,” he said.

At the open houses, residents will receive copies of the proposed amendment and will have the opportunity to discuss changes to the draft. A city hearing officer will use testimony from the public hearings in a future staff report.

The open houses are: Monday at Kaiser Permanente, Auditorium A, 5601 DeSoto Ave., Woodland Hills; and Wednesday at the Van Nuys-Sherman Oaks Senior Citizens Center auditorium, 5040 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks.

The public hearings are: May 12 at the Encino Community Center, 4935 Balboa Blvd., Encino; and May 13 at CBS Studio Center, 4024 Radford Ave., Studio City.

The open houses and the public hearings are all scheduled from 4:30-8 p.m.

For more information, call the Los Angeles Planning Department at (818) 756-8044.