Mall-to-mall crossing serves as west valley point of contention.

THE community of West Hills is facing a 35-foot problem.

The driveways of the 1 million-square-foot Fallbrook Center and the 190,000-square-foot Pride Center are almost directly across the street from each other on Victory Boulevard off by a mere 35 feet. Trouble is, customers traveling more one shopping center to the other--or those who need to turn left out of the lots--have been forced into heavier traffic. resulting in numerous accidents.

It was never an issue in the past, because traffic was always light and the parking lots were almost always empty. But now that Fallbrook Center features a Wal-Mart and other key draws, crowds are starting to arrive.

When General Growth Properties Inc., owner of Fallbrook Center, offered to ease traffic flow by footing the bill for a traffic signal and new driveway, the greatest resistance came from their own tenants. That's because the plan would have meant the loss of between 20 and 50 parking spaces, and some merchants griped that getting to the mall more easily doesn't mean much if their customers can't find a place to park their cars.

Now, in a deal worked out between the two centers' owners, the main entrance to Pride Center is to be realigned with Fallbrook Center's south entrance to accommodate a traffic signal. Under the revised plan, which still needs approval from Pride's tenants, only a handful of parking spaces would be lost.

"I'm hopeful it will be approved," said Michael Prochelo, asset manager for Pride Center. "I don't see a problem with it, but our tenants might say they don't want to do it."

It's a small but telling example of how L.A. County's western teaches have been making a sometimes uneasy transition from bucolic suburbs to thriving commercial areas.

Prochelo won't talk about specifics of the deal that will tweak the center's configuration, saying only that "we're all trying to cooperate in the spirit of having a safe commercial neighbor hood for patrons and tenants."

If tenants give the green light, said Rick Forster, Fallbrook Center's senior general manager, the signal could be installed next year.

Commercial expansion

The Fallbrook Center, home to Target, Kohl's, Home Depot, Burlington Coat Factory Outlet, Mervyn's, Wal-Mart and DSW Shoe Warehouse, was built in the 1950s on land that from 1915 until the late 1920s had been home to groves of walnuts, apricots, tomatoes, beans and lettuce owned by Theodore and Marian Knox.

During the Depression, the Knoxes began selling off the property, which changed hands a few more times before it was developed.

Fallbrook Mall opened in the 1950s as an open-air shopping center called Fallbrook Square. It was anchored by Sears & Roebuck & Co. and J.C. Penney and was mostly filled with small- to medium-sized chain stores.

Enclosed and expanded in the mid-1980s, its merchants felt pressure from Topanga Plaza, a mile-and-a-half away.

"During the end of the Fallbrook Mall period, they were having trouble keeping tenants in there," said Ron Clary, president of the Canoga Park/West Hills Chamber of Commerce. "Some of the chain stores moved out and were replaced with morn-and-pop stores like antique stores, a pet rescue and a bargain wedding dress store."

In 2001, plans were announced to convert Fallbrook Mall back to an open-air mall--but this time with bigger stores, including DSW Shoe Warehouse and Linens 'N' Things.

Since the center reopened last year, coming up with a traffic mitigation plan that satisfies the city, the tenants and the owner had proved problematic.

The Burlington Coat Factory Outlet didn't agree to a plan that would have taken 20 or so spaces away from its parking lot, prompting Los Angeles City Councilman Dennis Zinc to post a letter in July on his Web site blaming the retailer for the traffic signal installation delay and urging the public to contact the company.

Burlington Coat Factory is on a pad not owned by General Growth, and Tom Lowe, president of Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Univest, which owns the site, said his tenant couldn't afford to give up parking.

"They don't mind losing parking spaces but they don't want to lose so many that it might put them out of business," said Lowe. "The right solution is the one General Growth is working on now."