ENCINO : Ventura Blvd. Plan Will Be Discussed

Encino residents are invited to comment at a community meeting tonight on a conceptual plan for landscaping Encino’s section of Ventura Boulevard.

Community leaders and architects developed the plan, which they call more than a beautification project. It organizes the community into three areas: a town center, an employment center and a pedestrian-oriented commercial zone.

Public comment will also be sought on the location of public parking structures and possible routes for a community shuttle.

The proposal calls for creating a town center at Balboa and Ventura boulevards and consolidating and increasing park land in the area.

Tall palms and banners would be added to areas with one- and two-story buildings.

The meeting, sponsored by the Los Angeles City Planning Department and the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan Review Board, will be held at 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the Encino Community Center, 4935 Balboa Blvd.

The event, which will display drawings by architects and landscape architects, is the first of two in Encino.

The designers will incorporate public comment from the meeting into the plan and present the revised proposal for public review at the second meeting.

Other communities along Ventura Boulevard, from Woodland Hills to Studio City, have held or will hold public meetings to introduce conceptual plans for their areas.

The final plans for all the communities will be submitted by the Plan Review Board to the Planning Department as recommendations at the end of the year.