Plans for Underground Motel Garage Denied

In a victory for Encino homeowners, a Los Angeles city zoning official has ruled that the owner of a Ventura Boulevard motel may not replace a parking lot with an underground garage when he rebuilds.

The decision, issued April 6, affirmed the motel owner’s announcement at a public hearing that he would change his plans because of neighborhood opposition and the cost of delays, Associate Zoning Administrator William Lillenberg said.

King You Chai of Santa Monica, owner of the deteriorating 28-unit, two-story Encino Inn at 17448 Ventura Blvd., plans to tear the building down and replace it with a three-story, 60-unit motel. The front of the property is on commercially zoned land, Lillenberg said, but the back, which for years has included a surface parking lot, is zoned for residential use.

Homeowners objected to Chai’s plans to replace the surface lot with a two-level, underground parking deck, arguing that it would set a precedent in the boulevard’s residential zones and enable Chai to later enlarge the motel.

Chai could not be reached. According to Lillenberg, the new motel will include 62 parking spaces--22 beneath the building in the commercially zoned area and 40 above-ground in the area zoned for residential use.

Kathy Lewis, a spokeswoman for the Encino Property Owners Assn., called the ruling a victory in her group’s continuing battle to curtail development along Ventura Boulevard and preserve the quality of life in adjoining neighborhoods.