Study Ordered on Cinema Project : Development: Councilwoman says traffic from Van Nuys complex would spill into neighborhood.

The Los Angeles City Council has ordered developer Ira Smedra, embroiled in a dispute over development of a Studio City carwash site, to prepare an environmental impact report for a Van Nuys project opposed by nearby residents.

The council voted unanimously Tuesday to require Smedra to prepare the report for a cinema complex that he wants to build in the 16300 block of Sherman Way in western Van Nuys. In August, the council ordered Smedra to study the environmental impact of a mini-mall that he wants to build on land occupied by a now-closed Studio City carwash, gas station and restaurant.

Councilwoman Joy Picus, who represents the Van Nuys area where Smedra wants to build an eight-screen cinema, restaurant and commercial center, said traffic from the development would spill into surrounding neighborhoods.

Picus was particularly critical of Smedra’s plan for handling parking at the complex, which she said would discourage theatergoers from using the parking lot. The plan allows parked cars to block others in when the lot gets full. The drivers would leave their keys with attendants to permit the double-parked cars to be moved.

“I believe that young people going to the theaters will not use that valet parking,” said Picus, who said her concerns were prompted by complaints from neighbors.

But Smedra said in an interview that Picus misunderstood his parking plan. He said that if the 663-space lot were to fill up, late arrivals would leave their keys with attendants and pick them up again when they leave the show.

“It’s the thing to do these days, the politically popular thing,” said Smedra, referring to the council’s decision to require him to prepare an environmental impact report. “Unfortunately some council members don’t want to work with developers.”

Smedra has filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court to overturn the council’s August demand that he present an environmental impact report for the project at the Studio City site. He said he will consider filing another suit to reverse Tuesday’s council decision.

He said environmental impact reports are “very costly, very time-consuming.”

The Studio City suit, filed Oct. 13, contends that Smedra followed all city rules and met all city staff requirements in proposing and planning his mini-mall.

Picus said she decided to bring the Van Nuys project directly to the council Tuesday, rather than waiting for it to be brought to the council through the normal committee process, because she had been told that the Building and Safety Department intended to allow it go forward without an environmental impact report.

Instead of the report, Smedra would have had to meet certain other conditions. Most of those conditions would have involved providing additional parking and widening streets, Picus and Smedra said.

Officials from the Building and Safety Department knowledgeable about Smedra’s project could not be reached for comment Tuesday.