Residents Unite Behind Ventura Blvd. Ordinance : Development: The homeowners council will oppose exemptions from the plan limiting commercial projects.

Six homeowners groups representing communities along 17 miles of Ventura Boulevard have banded together to launch a preemptive strike against developers whom they expect to seek exemptions from a year-old growth ordinance for the major thoroughfare.

The new group, to be called the Ventura Boulevard Council, will oppose requests for exemptions from restrictions on height, density, parking and requirements that developers pay for measures to improve traffic conditions.

The Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan is a sweeping ordinance designed to limit future commercial projects along the boulevard, often called the San Fernando Valley’s main street. In addition, the plan imposes tens of millions of dollars in so-called “trip fees” on developers to pay for measures to speed traffic.

The council was formed this month by homeowners associations from Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Encino, Tarzana and Woodland Hills to increase their clout by forming a uniform front to protect the plan that was adopted in January, 1991, spokesman Tony Lucente said.

“There’s a real possibility of the plan being, in effect, dismantled piece by piece through numerous exceptions,” said Lucente, president of the Studio City Residents Assn. “If we’re operating as individuals, we may wake up one day and find there’s been 50 exemptions.”

So far, only about half a dozen developers along the boulevard have asked for exemptions from the plan, according to city planning associate Dick Platkin.

Three exemptions were granted, allowing a Studio City book company to increase the size of a sign, a West Valley company to erect a cellular telephone tower exceeding height requirements and a Woodland Hills plumbing shop to reduce the amount of landscaping in its parking lot, city officials said.

In addition, some of the 170 property owners who recently received bills of up to $800,000 for trip fees have asked for relief and/ or threatened legal action.

The owners, who had developed or redeveloped properties since 1985, had agreed in exchange for building permits to pay whatever trip fees were eventually adopted as part of the Specific Plan. But some say that their fees are unconstitutional or improperly calculated, spokesman for the developers said.

As a result, city employees are studying ways to extend the payment periods for the fees as well as a method for property owners to appeal the bills, officials said.

The Ventura Boulevard Council agrees that an extended payment period may be appropriate, but may push for interest to be charged on the unpaid amounts, Lucente said. Under no circumstances should the fees be reduced or waived, said Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn.

Indeed, the debate over the trip fees has fueled homeowner concerns that developers might try to get around the plan, which was a compromise between homeowner and business representatives, Close said.

Homeowners decided to form the council so they will be ready when the economy improves and attracts more developers with exemption requests, Close said.

The council will present the Los Angeles City Council in the next several weeks with a white paper outlining homeowner views, Lucente said. If requested, it will also help individual communities fight exemption requests.

Close said it would be difficult to imagine any exemption request that the group would not oppose.

Boulevard communities are well known for vocal campaigns against large-scale commercial projects. Although homeowner associations have no official power to reject exemption requests, their political influence is considerable.

In addition, the homeowners council will offer its views to the Plan Review Board, a group of citizens appointed by the mayor and City Council members to review the Specific Plan this spring.

The board’s recommendations will be included in an annual report to the City Council, which will consider changes in the plan, Platkin said. About half the board members represent commercial interests while the rest represent homeowner concerns, Platkin said.

The homeowners’ efforts met with positive reactions Monday, with Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky calling it “good insurance” and Councilman Michael Woo saying it will “help to keep everybody very alert.”

Cindy Miscikowski of Councilman Marvin Braude’s office questioned whether the council, which she termed a positive step, was acting prematurely in preparing to resist exemption requests that have not yet been made.

Development attorney Ben Reznik said he hoped that the council keeps an open mind, but called it “a good idea.” He said it could shorten the process for developers who could appeal to one group “rather than fighting a battle in Studio City, then somewhere else.”