BUSY ON VAN NUYS BOULEVARD : RESIDENTS OPPOSE SWAP MEETS.

Byline: Sherry Joe Crosby Daily News Staff Writer

For Edgar Sandobal, a 34-year-old Guatemalan immigrant, the indoor swap meets on Van Nuys Boulevard mean a shot at the good life: a chance to run his own business and provide for his wife and four children.

For members of the Van Nuys Homeowners Association, such enterprises are a painful reminder of a legal loophole that allows indoor swap meets to operate without conditional use permits.

``They're operating under false pretenses and driving out legitimate businesses in the area,'' said Don Schultz, president of the Van Nuys Homeowners Association, who wants city Building and Safety officials to crack down on the businesses. ``We're trying to maintain the integrity of our neighborhood, and you can't do it when you have businesses operating illegally.''

Homeowners are alarmed by the proliferation of Van Nuys Boulevard indoor swap meets they say clutter the sidewalk with illegal signs, clothes racks and blaring stereos. They also complain the businesses attract street vendors whose customers litter the streets with food wrappers.

``They make Van Nuys Boulevard look like the Rose Bowl (swap meet),'' said Adriana Noonan, vice president of the homeowners association. ``It's one storefront swap meet after another with pretty much the same merchandise.''

Swap meet vendors said they're being unfairly targeted because of the nature of their businesses and held to a higher standard than other retail enterprises.

``We comply with the regulations,'' said Sandobal, manager of the Plaza del Sol Swap Meet on Van Nuys Boulevard near Gilroy Street, which does not have a conditional use permit. ``We don't hurt anybody. We're making honest money.''

Under city law, conditional use permits are required for indoor swap meets with at least 10 vendors who pay a fee to sell their wares or who charge shoppers an entrance fee.

Many operate without the permits because of a loophole that exempts businesses that do not charge customers an entrance fee or that have long-term leases with vendors.

Others avoid the permits when they apply for a business tax registration certificate from the City Clerk's Office, which has no special category for swap meets.

As a result, indoor swap meets fall under the general category of retail sales, which don't require conditional use permits to operate in commercial zones such as Van Nuys Boulevard.

``They get their business license. Then all of a sudden, a sign goes up that says `swap meet,' '' city planner Cora Smith said.

Councilman Marvin Braude, whose district includes the stretch of Van Nuys Boulevard where many of the swap meets exist, said city Building and Safety Department officials need to step up enforcement of the law.

``It involves the city Planning and Building and Safety regulations,'' he said. ``Building and Safety has scores and scores of problems where people take advantage of the rules. Enforcement is expensive, and the city needs to hire more people and spend more money.''

Building and Safety officials said there is little they can do. Enforcing the law is difficult and costly, and they have more pressing matters such as inspecting unsafe and uninhabitable buildings.

``It is a problem. There's no discernible difference between the ones that need a conditional use permit and those that don't,'' principal building inspector Ron Skarin said. ``It's a very difficult condition for Building and Safety to enforce. If someone complains, we will follow through on that.''

In 1994, the City Council considered but never adopted a proposed ordinance that would have allowed indoor swap meets to operate without conditional use permits as long as they complied with standards for parking, vendor-stall space and distance from residential neighborhoods.

Schultz wants to go beyond that. He wants a moratorium on additional indoor swap meets along Van Nuys Boulevard.

``We have far too many,'' said Shultz, who said he has never known of a public hearing for an indoor swap meet in Van Nuys during the past decade.

Some long-time merchants said indoor swap meets have forced them to move out of the neighborhood because the businesses are eroding their customer base.

``Our customers were complaining they didn't like coming to our store because the neighborhood didn't feel safe, the parking was terrible and the meter maids were overly aggressive,'' said Randy King of King's Western Wear, which operated on Van Nuys Boulevard from 1946 until last October when it moved to Ventura Boulevard in Studio City.

``It gives the appearance of Van Nuys being a Third World city. I've got customers who say the place looks like Tijuana,'' he said.

But that didn't stop King from leasing his Van Nuys store to an indoor swap meet.

``That's the only interest we had on the building for the six months we had it for sale,'' he said.

Swap meet vendors said they plan to stay in Van Nuys. Frequented by bargain hunters and lower-income shoppers, the indoor swap meets offer an attractive market option with their variety of inexpensive goods.

``They're not rich people. They're poor people,'' said Rosa Awakimian, who sells perfume and cosmetics at Mini Down Town Swap Meet on Van Nuys Boulevard and Friar Street, which doesn't have a conditional use permit and doesn't charge shoppers an entrance fee. ``They find everything they want here.''

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--Color) Edgar Sandobal stands in front of the Plaza del Sol Swap Meet on Van Nuys Boulevard, where he is the manager.

(2--Color) Vendor Rosa Awakimian says swap meets serve the needs of the poor.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News