STREET IMPROVEMENT FEES CUT BACK 76%.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

Faced with complaints that city street improvement fees were driving businesses away from Ventura Boulevard, the Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to scale back the fees by 76 percent while also tapping into other resources to help pay for roadway improvements.

The council approved an amendment to the Ventura Boulevard Specific Plan that reduces the average fee for new development along the boulevard from $11.75 a square foot to $2.75 a square foot.

The fees apply to all new development, as well as expansion of existing businesses and any change in the type of business using a building along a 17-mile stretch of the boulevard.

``I think what we want to do is continue to have a real sense of vitality along Ventura Boulevard,'' said Councilman Mike Feuer, whose district includes Sherman Oaks. ``This will allow us to have that vitality along with a high quality of life for neighboring residents.''

The specific plan was approved in 1991 to regulate development along the commercial corridor from Woodland Hills to Studio City.

Real estate consultant Jeff Brain, who heads a city advisory panel on the boulevard, said the original fee ordinance was causing some businesses to decide against locating on the boulevard.

``It was too expensive and too confusing to develop there,'' Brain said, noting that the new ordinance drops efforts to collect fees based on the number of car trips generated by a business and instead sets a flat fee based on square footage.

The changes will reduce the sum generated for new traffic lights, street widening and other roadway improvements over the next 20 years from $101 million to $11.3 million, Brain said.

However, the city expects to receive an additional $40 million in assessments from existing businesses through the creation of Business Improvement Districts. Adding in state grants and regional transportation funds, the city hopes to have a $62.6 million budget for boulevard improvements over the next 20 years, down from its original budget of $175 million.

Sherman Oaks Homeowner Association President Richard Close said the new fees should halt what he feels has been a deterioration of some parts of the boulevard where buildings and lots sit empty.

``Hopefully this restructuring will lead to the revitalization of the boulevard,'' Close said. ``There is no development occurring now and so there are no fees coming in to fix up the boulevard.''

Attorney Fred Gaines told the council that the new fees are strongly supported by property owners along the boulevard, including six of his clients who built in recent years and will be affected retroactively.

Gaines said one client, who built the 105,000-square-foot Studio City Place Shopping Center, will see his fees reduced from $385,000 under the old ordinance to $209,000.

Another of Gaines' clients built a 20,000-square-foot office building at 16430 Ventura Blvd. in Encino. That property owner will see fees reduced from $307,000 to $37,000, Gaines said.

``There are a number of other projects that have been on hold because of this,'' Gaines said.

The new fees are based on the type of business and its location. For instance, a warehouse in Woodland Hills that generates little traffic would pay only 57 cents a square foot, while a health club that generates lots of traffic in a congested area of Sherman Oaks would pay $5.18 a square foot.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who represents parts of Woodland Hills and Tarzana, said the new fees are an acceptable compromise in light of developers' demands for relief.

``It represents not only a true and good compromise but a very good plan for the future of Ventura Boulevard in a way that meets the needs and concerns of the complex group of stakeholders,'' Chick said.