Survey Finds ‘Urban Village’ Support

Residents of the San Fernando Valley already enjoy shopping in the popular, pedestrian-friendly commercial areas of Sherman Oaks and Studio City. Now, a new study suggests they may also be willing to reside in or near such areas in so-called urban villages.

Urban villages are dense neighborhoods where retail stores and housing coexist, public transit is near and pedestrians can move about with ease.

Conducted by the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, Pepperdine University and Cal State Northridge, the study indicates that the Valley is a prime location for such mixed-use projects as those now found in other areas of Los Angeles County, such as Pasadena’s Paseo Colorado, which features residential units above trendy shops, along a major transportation corridor.

“I would love to pick up that example and place it in Canoga Park or Sherman Oaks,” said Bruce Ackerman, president and chief executive of the Economic Alliance. “Those are the kinds of solutions we think will work in this area.”

The area’s population growth, dwindling supply of available land and traffic problems necessitate new approaches to planning, he said. City officials can help by revising the General Plan for the Valley, updating zoning rules to allow smaller subdivided plots and offering incentives such as bonuses for building more units, fee discounts and expedited processing for strip mall conversions.

According to the study, a 2003 survey found that 76% of respondents support more single-family homes and that 88% back the construction of affordable housing for senior citizens and the poor. But 51% favored housing over businesses on main streets, a key to creating urban villages. About 40% opposed such mixed-use housing.

The need for the urban village concept stems from a growing housing shortage that has priced many out of the homeownership market and threatened “the very essence of the Valley’s suburban dream of a community of homeowners,” the study reported.

From 1990 to 2000, housing stock in the Valley grew 3.8%, while the population climbed nearly 11%. Density has increased as well, from an average of 4,200 people per square mile in 1970 to 5,900 in 2000. The areas of highest density are in the northeastern Valley, in communities such as Panorama City, which nearly doubled its rate from 7,644 people per square mile in 1970 to 13,520 in 2000.

Yet the Valley retains advantages over the rest of the city, the report said. It is home to fewer of the city’s poor and experiences lower rates of unemployment than the rest of the city.