Below is a copy of an alert sent by The Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association to its more than 3,000 members urging them to contact City Councilman Paul Krekorian and the Los Angeles City Planning Department about the 500-unit apartment complex proposed for the corner of Sepulveda Boulevard and Camarillo Street.
The project, proposed by developer M. David Paul, would create an Italian village motif with apartments and retail shops on land just north of the Sherman Oaks Galleria.
The proposal has gone through a number of steps, including an environmental impact report, and various public hearings. On Thursday, the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council's Land Use Committee will hear arguments from both sides of the issue.
To accommodate the large crowd expected for the hearing, it will be held at the Sherman Oaks/East Valley Senior Center at 5520 Van Nuys Boulevard.
(Here is a copy of the alert sent out by the Sherman Oaks Home Owners Association)
DOWNSIZE THE MASSIVE 8-STORY,
500 UNIT APARTMENT COMPLEX
AT SEPULVEDA & CAMARILLO
HELP STOP MASSIVE NEW TRAFFIC IMPACTS ON VENTURA BLVD., SEPULVEDA BLVD. AND LOCAL STREETS
Il Villaggio Toscano* is a massive new development project that is proposed for the corner of Sepulveda Blvd. and Camarillo. This development will add thousands of new car trips per day to this already gridlocked intersection. Community groups, residents, and others across the Valley are contacting Councilman Paul Krekorian and the Los Angeles Department of City Planning to voice their opposition to the project as currently proposed, and to request that the project be downsized to a level at which the traffic impact can be mitigated.
*Il Villaggio Toscano is sometimes spelled, Il Villagio Toscano
This project will be a disaster for commuters traveling the 405/101 freeways, Ventura Blvd. and Sepulveda Blvd.
Send an E-Mail Now! stopilvillagio@sbcglobal.net
QUESTION FROM SHERMAN OAKS PATCH:
Tell us what you think about this development in the comments section below.
SOHA has been making Sherman Oaks a better place to live since 1964", really? Then why is the Sepulveda & Ventura Blvd intersection already a disaster for commuters? Oh I can hear it now…"if it wasn't for our organization everything would be worse in Sherman Oaks". So one of the last eye sores of a vacant in the Sherman Oaks community is to be built upon but SOHA is hell bent on saving the Sepulveda & Ventura Blvd intersection from more traffic. If a building of 100 units was built, SOHA would find something to complain about, it must be in their blood? All they seem to do is complain about any building project in Sherman Oaks and sue the city of Los Angeles or a developer if they don't get their way, oh I forgot and SOHA plants trees on Ventura Bvld. Heck I'm complaining about SOHA so much I might qualify to be a SOHA board member some day... Can anyone guess how many times SOHA has sued the city of Los Angeles? How much money do you think SOHA has cost this city using your tax dollar for their elite board to say they are saving Sherman Oaks? I wonder what the cost is using your tax dollars for the recent "Great Wall of Sherman Oaks" fiasco? Are people aware of the inside connections SOHA's elite board members have with downtown politics? Build the building let people live in Sherman Oaks and support the local shops! Valley Dogg
If the project followed the city approved zoning plans, many of these hearings could have been avoided, but instead, it has to be bigger. The EIR proposes delaying the construction traffic till 7 ish in the morning. Remember to be friendly to those trucks as they join us on Sepulveda. None of the traffic mitigation funds will go to fix Ventura and Sepulveda there is nothing that can be done to help it (except maybe add another 600 car trips to it)
The new reality is that large projects like the Il Villaggio Toscano and the Village in Woodland Hills are being given the green light because the city is broke and they need the Tax Revenue that developed private property will bring. I don't know of a homeowner or a commercial a property owner that will incur the expense to build more than they need with rare exceptions. This is not a CRA area where someone else’s money is being used to finance the project. M. David Paul is smart enough to understand what the market will bear. SOHA needs to get all of its mitigation demands together and work with the developer. Otherwise SOHA will not have a place at the table and it is the local residents, not the people who live up on Mulholland Dr. and Beverly Glenn that suffer.