COUNCIL GIVES OK TO KOHL'S.

Byline: - Rachel Uranga

Despite concerns from residents about traffic and pollution, the City Council approved the opening of a Kohl's department store.

The 4-1 vote approving the store came late Tuesday, after a contentious meeting in which dozens of residents said the store would character of their middle-class neighborhood. Nearly as many expressed their support.

The move ended a months-long battle between dozens of nearby residents and developers, both of whom canvassed the neighborhood in the weeks leading up to the meeting.

``I'm disappointed,'' said Mitchell Schwartz, a leading opponent and two-year resident of the neighborhood. ``The traffic and pollution coming out of this is going to be tremendous.''

The department store will sit on a 12-acre parcel on the northwest corner of Newbury Road and Kelley Road, along with another major department store and several restaurants and retail spaces.

Neighbors complained that the store would lure hundreds of patrons to their residential area, causing congestion along Kelley, a two-lane street that serves as a major thoroughfare for residents of Newb Schwartz, who called the traffic study flawed and the environmental impact study incomplete, said he was considering filing a lawsuit against the city.

But Tamara Thompson, a director for Los Angeles based-Robertson Properties Group, which is developing the site, defended the city's study and her company's efforts.

``Their statements are unfounded,'' she said, noting that the Robertson Group and Kohl's have reached out to neighbors.

In a concession to residents, developers agreed to limit delivery truck access, reduce store hours and eliminate early morning an Kohl's, a Wisconsin-based retailer, will open the store as part of a larger strategy to saturate the lucrative Southern California market. In March, nearly 30 stores are slated for opening, while more plans are under way.

Kohl's declined to comment on the fight waged by residents of the affluent city. But Assistant City Manager Scott Mitnick said the public outcry was not unusual.

``A large percentage (of residents) have moved from the San Fernando Valley and more urban parts of Los Angeles. They come here and want to avoid the poor land-use decisions,'' he said, adding that monitoring commercial development is a city priority.