Panel OKs Updated Boulevard Plan

A City Council committee Tuesday approved an updated plan for Ventura Boulevard that encourages pedestrian retail areas and beautification of the Valley’s “main street.”

The land-use guidelines, known formally as the Ventura/Cahuenga Boulevard Corridor Specific Plan, is subject to final approval by the full council, city Planner Dick Platkin said.

The amended plan, unanimously approved by the council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee, is a guideline for new businesses that want to open on the boulevard.

It sets aside about 4 1/2 miles to be “pedestrian oriented areas” that are limited to specific retail uses, Platkin said.

For some parts of the busy 17-mile strip--the Valley’s main drag--those proposed pedestrian areas posed the biggest hurdle between property owners and city officials.

Many business owners in Tarzana, for instance, were worried the limits on what kind of retail would be allowed could limit their potential tenants.

City planners and officials have often cited flourishing pedestrian-friendly areas such as Old Pasadena and the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica as goals. But landlords said they needed a wide range of potential tenants to ensure their stores would be leased.

That was a key compromise in the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan that was approved, said Lillian Wall, president of the Ventura Boulevard Coalition, a group of business and residential owners.

A preliminary December list of allowable retail businesses was recently greatly expanded to include barber shops, beauty salons, day spas, copying businesses, pharmacies and many other uses.

“Everyone came together and I think what was accomplished today was a very good thing,” Wall said. “I’m pleased and so are members of the coalition.”

Clare Short, a Tarzana businessman who owns retail space on the boulevard, credited council members Hal Bernson and Cindy Miscikowski with ironing out the conflicts.

“You never get everything you want, but we got enough modifications to at least be satisfied,” Short said.

Short said he was still concerned about parking and didn’t like the idea of assessments on the Tarzana Business Improvement District to build a parking facility.

“It costs $2,500 a year for me now [in the business improvement district] and I’m a small-business owner,” Short said. “I have eight tenants in 11 stores, and I would have to pass on the parking assessment to those eight tenants.”

Another key facet of the plan is an updated streetscape with improved landscaping, sidewalks and other improvements, Platkin said.

Those long-term developments can help create the “feeling of Old Pasadena,” he said.