RESIDENTS, DEVELOPER REACH LOT COMPROMISE.

Byline: James Nash Staff Writer

In a novel compromise, a developer has replaced plans for 44 apartments near a busy commercial corridor with 16 townhomes to appease neighbors who said the original plan would bring crowding and crime.

The agreement appears to head off a fight between developer Warren Silverberg and residents near Vesper Avenue and Kittridge Street.

And it could be a precedent for other housing developments in the San Fernando Valley, where a push for new affordable housing has collided with longtime residents' desire to preserve single-family residential neighborhoods.

``It's not just about how many people you can cram into a six-story apartment building,'' said Lydia Mather, a 23-year resident of Van Nuys who worked on the compromise. ``This is about home ownership and building a quality of life in the community.''

Neighbors weren't always happy about plans for the vacant parking lot at Vesper and Kittridge. When Silverberg presented plans for 44 apartments on three stories in an April 2003 meeting, many residents were downright hostile, according to several who attended the meeting.

The site is sandwiched between the Van Nuys Boulevard commercial strip and a postwar housing tract. Many neighbors said apartments would saddle the community with traffic, parked cars, overcrowding and crime.

Silverberg said he could have built as many as 100 apartments on the site with a new zoning designation and a city density bonus for affordable housing. Although the initial plan for 44 units was reasonable, he said, he was willing to accommodate the concerns of neighbors rather than impose an unwanted project.

``The community clearly needs housing, but we want to have housing that fits into the community,'' Silverberg said. ``There's some compromise necessary to go forward.''

As proposed, the townhomes would have 1,200 to 1,500 square feet and three bedrooms each. Silverberg wouldn't say how much he expects the homes to cost, but he said they would be affordable by Valley standards yet ``pricey enough that there will be a pride of ownership in the neighborhood.''

To obtain city approval for the townhomes, Silverberg needs a variance from a city requirement that the homes be spaced six feet from each other. Silverberg's proposal spaces the homes three feet apart to accommodate the 16 units.

Councilman Tony Cardenas, whose office brokered the compromise between residents and the developer, said the latest version of the proposal strikes an ideal balance between the need for housing and the desire to preserve neighborhoods of single-family homes.

``This is a solution,'' Cardenas said. ``This isn't going to be the be-all and end-all for housing across the city, but it certainly addresses the availability of home ownership.''

Nearly three-quarters of residents in the census tract that includes the project site are renters, according to 2000 U.S. Census data.

Van Nuys Homeowners Association president Don Schultz said projects such as Silverberg's make it possible for people of modest means to own their homes, bringing up the overall quality of life in a neighborhood.

``We now have home ownership on a lot, with a parking lot on the site,'' Schultz said. ``It was the best possible solution to what could have been a nasty issue all around.''

Van Nuys resident Carolyn Ferritto, who attended meetings on the proposal, said Silverberg's willingness to change the project from rental to resident-owned units won over many critics.

``The people who live here will be homeowners,'' Ferritto said. ``It's a pride in ownership that we as residents in Van Nuys hope to propagate.''

James Nash, [phone]

james.nash(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, map

Photo:

Lydia Mather, Prudy Schultz and Don Schultz, from left, walk by the lot near Vesper Avenue and Kittridge Street in Van Nuys that will now be townhomes, not apartments.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

Map:

Apartment complex