Property Owners to Vote on Business Districts

Efforts to form two more business improvement districts in the San Fernando Valley got a push forward Tuesday from the Los Angeles City Council, which approved petitions supporting the Canoga Park and Studio City zones and called for a vote of the affected property owners.

If approved, these districts would join commercial corridors in Tarzana and Van Nuys in a trend toward pedestrian-friendly shopping villages maintained by fees paid by area property owners. The money often pays for security, landscaping, cleaning and marketing for the district.

Seventeen business improvement districts are up and running citywide, with 30 more in various planning stages, said Mike Vitkievicz, special assessments manager for the city clerk’s office. Many BIDs try to capitalize on a regional theme to lure business to sagging retail strips.

Proponents of the Canoga Park and the Studio City BIDs gathered signatures from property owners who would pay more than 50% of the proposed assessments, prompting the council to declare its intent to form the BIDs.

The Canoga Park district encompasses the stretch of Sherman Way bounded by Wyandotte Street to the north, Gault Street to the south, Canoga Avenue to the east and Topanga Canyon Boulevard to the west. It is expected to generate $244,000 annually for five years.

Studio City’s BID would pull in $300,000 a year over a five-year period. The zone includes a one-mile segment of Ventura Boulevard and adjacent streets located between Carpenter and Rhodes avenues.

The city will now mail ballots to the affected property owners asking whether they favor the BIDs and will hold public hearings on each proposal, Vitkievicz said. The votes are expected to be tallied by May.