HOME DEPOT CANCELS HOTLY DISPUTED MOVE.

Byline: Mary Beth Alexander Daily News Staff Writer

Home Depot has abandoned plans to relocate its Van Nuys store to a site a mile away after the proposal drew harsh opposition from community members concerned about traffic problems the new outlet could create.

The Atlanta-based company had planned to move its operations from Roscoe and Balboa boulevards, where it has a warehouse of about 95,000 square feet, and build a 130,000-square-foot store at Roscoe west of Woodley Avenue.

Company officials said they dropped the plan because there are quicker, more efficient and less controversial options to expanding the store.

``The concern of residents was one of many things we considered when we changed plans on the site,'' Home Depot spokeswoman Amy Friend said. ``The goal for us is to remedy the overcrowding at the Van Nuys store as quickly and efficiently as we can.''

Friend would not provide details about other options Home Depot is considering for its Van Nuys store. One option might be to expand the store at its current site, she said.

Community residents spoke out against a Home Depot move to the Roscoe-Woodley site because they feared it would add thousands of new cars to an already congested intersection. They said they were pleased Wednesday about Home Depot's decision to back away from the site.

``It was the absolutely wrong intersection for it. It was abominable to even consider it,'' said Dex Morris, leader of a group that formed to oppose the plan.

Home Depot filed its request Jan. 9 to withdraw a city permit application for the new store, a Planning Commission official said.

Home Depot is in escrow for the 19-acre relocation site, Friend said. She would not say how much the company paid for the land. The property, she said, will be turned over to another buyer.

Tom Henry, planning deputy for Councilman Joel Wachs, speculated that Wachs' vow to fight the plan was a factor in Home Depot's decision.

``We've made it very clear to Home Depot that we could not support their project,'' Henry said. ``It would have just been a major impact on that street.''

Wachs' office has offered to help the corporation find a more suitable location, Henry said.

``There's no question Home Depot is a great store. And they're very, very beneficial to the community,'' Henry said. ``We are confident that there are locations where they can be, where you will not have the same traffic impacts.''