Development Tentatively OKd for ‘Lake Hayvenhurst’

ENCINO — A plan to build a shopping center atop a crater known as “Lake Hayvenhurst” won conditional approval Friday, cheering residents who have lobbied for years to fill the neighborhood eyesore.

“I’ve lived with that hole in my back yard and the dust in my drapes for all these years,” said Dorothy MacCulloch, who lives directly behind the site proposed for a 93,000-square-foot shopping center. “So I want to see this go forward as quickly as possible.”

The project generated unprecedented support among local homeowner groups weary of waiting for developments to cover the hole, created when soil contaminated by leaking underground gas tanks was removed.

Associate Zoning Administrator John J. Parker on Friday approved plans submitted by developer Rick Caruso of Caruso Affiliated Holdings, who said he must receive final city Planning Commission approval by the end of the year or his financing could fall through.

“We cannot close this deal unless all our entitlements are done,” Caruso said, imploring planning officials to expedite approval of the supermarket, bookstore and retail outlet proposed for the corner of Ventura Boulevard and Hayvenhurst Avenue.

No date has been set for the Planning Commission to consider Caruso’s requests for several exceptions to local zoning ordinances known as the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan, but the hearing examiner handling the case said it was unlikely it would be heard by year’s end. But an aide to City Councilman Marvin Braude said she would work to get the project on the agenda of the commission’s Dec. 16 meeting.

“There really is a degree of urgency to get the project before the commission,” said Cindy Miscikowski, Braude’s chief planning deputy. “This a good project. It’s one we don’t want to lose.”

Caruso backed out of a deal to build a similar project on the site in April. If the project is approved, Caruso said construction would begin in the Spring and last about a year. Caruso said he dropped plans earlier this year for developing the area when the owner, Imperial Bank, pressed Caruso to move more quickly.

“This is a perfect example of something the city should find a way to get done,” Caruso said. “Hell, everybody is out there demanding that this thing be built.”

Not only are neighbors eager to see the hole filled, but they don’t want to risk losing Caruso’s relatively moderate plans to a larger project, such as the last one approved for the site, which included office buildings, a theater complex and three stories of underground parking.

Caruso has asked to reduce the buffer between the rear of the center and homes along Moorpark Street from 10 feet to 3 feet, a potentially controversial request.

But residents of those houses said they were satisfied with his plan to fill the space with trees of their choosing.

Even homeowner activist Gerald Silver, who claims to “oppose 99% of all development” and has fought several other projects proposed for the same site, supports the shopping center.

“We think this is an outstanding project,” Silver said. “They ought to be given the fast-track on this.”

Under the approval Friday, the project’s anchor tenant, a supermarket, would be allowed to remain open 24 hours and to sell alcoholic beverages. Parker required Caruso to hire a 24-hour security guard. And though he approved a second store for 24-hour-operation and with alcohol sales, he said a second public hearing would be held when the developer determined who the tenant would be.

None of the neighbors said they opposed the project. But some residents of Noeline Avenue--across Ventura Boulevard from one of the center’s entrances--said they worried about increased traffic on their street and potential crime associated with a 24-hour market.

“I just want to make these concerns known,” said Susan Wolf, who added that she was encouraged that Caruso agreed to meet with her and neighbors to talk about the problems.