REVIEW PANEL OKS PORTER RANCH CENTER.

Byline: Mary Beth Alexander Daily News Staff Writer

Saying Porter Ranch residents need someplace to shop for groceries or have a cup of coffee without leaving the neighborhood, developers persuaded a citizens advisory council Monday to let them move forward with plans for a 660,000-square-foot retail center.

The center would be located along Rinaldi Street between Winnetka and Corbin avenues. Developers would not reveal potential tenants, but said the expansive, V-shape center would feature boutiques, restaurants, a retail drug store and a market.

``It's what's lacking in the neighborhood,'' said project manager Tom Zeiger of the Porter Ranch Development Co. ``Hopefully, we can meet the needs of the community.''

Zeiger said he hoped the $25 million upgrade to the land - which would include grading and installation of electrical and sewer systems - could begin in early 1997. Construction of the shopping center would take a year once the improvements were made, he said.

The Porter Ranch Design Review Board voted 5-2 to approve preliminary plans for the center, which would be called Porter Ranch Plaza.

The Design Review Board is a City Council-appointed seven-member panel of citizens whose approval was needed before the developers could move forward with the city application process.

In a three-hour meeting at a City Planning office, board members wrangled with the developers over several aspects of the plan. Two members said they could not support the project.

Panel member Ray Mulokas said the retail center was inappropriate for the area. He said the developers strayed from a carefully crafted specific plan approved six years ago that included a community arts-oriented center.

``We spent a year and a half working on that plan, and all of a sudden we're getting a shopping center like any other shopping center,'' Mulokas said. ``It's going to look horrendous.''

The developers agreed that they had reconfigured initial drawings of the property made several years ago, that showed office buildings and some residential construction on the plaza site.

Zeiger said the commercial center, originally intended to be built farther west, was moved because the developer wanted to build it soon, and as close to the Porter Ranch residential areas.

Still, Zeiger said the alternate proposal does not violate the Porter Ranch Specific Plan. And, he said projects such as a community center would come later, when the need is greater.

``Nothing that we're proposing today would preclude us from doing that,'' Zeiger said.

The developers agreed to consider members' recommendations for wider sidewalks, and more landscaping around the nearly 3,000-space parking lot.

City officials said the plans now must be reviewed and approved by various city agencies, which could take several months. The project, they said, also will be presented in a series of public hearings, and come back before the advisory board, before construction begins.

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PHOTO The 660,000-square-foot Porter Ranch Plaza would have a market, chain drug store, boutiques and restaurants, according to developers.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News