Staging a Northeast Valley revival: hoping to put the there in Panorama City.

PANORAMA City could soon become a test model for one of the cornerstones of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley's Vision 20/20 plan: the creation of so-called "town centers" as a way to differentiate communities from one another by giving them a commercial and cultural core.

A group of volunteer architects, structural engineers, lawyers and city planners are working on a comprehensive proposal for a town center project for Panorama City's commercial corridor.

A Panorama City town center, said retired Sherman Oaks architect, Jerry Pollak, a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), San Fernando Valley chapter heading up the design team, would offer a central meeting space for civic and cultural events. But more importantly, he said the center would also create a link between existing developments, such as the Panorama Mall and the recently opened Plaza del Valle.

The town center concept is at the top of the wish list that surfaced in the compilation of the Alliance's Vision 20/20 plan last year; a long-term list of recommendations on urban growth for the Valley based on feedback from community leaders.

Pollak's design team is known as an UDAT, or Urban Design Assistance Team. The AIA is the godfather of the UDAT concept, which has been around for decades. In fact, an UDAT team formed in the 1980s to work on redeveloping small sections of Ventura Boulevard, according to Pollak. Some of those designs were integrated in Sherman Oaks.

Once an UDAT report is complete, said Pollak, it is typically floated to city, state and federal agencies for approval and funding requests.

The Panorama City plan, if successful, would be the first large-scale UDAT project ever completed in the Valley.

As it is, Panorama City's commercial corridor, though home to some successful developments, including the first double-story Wall Mart store in the region and the 68-acre industrial/retail complex known as The Plant, is, to a large degree, operating on what the architects call a 1950s design platform.

"The stores tend to have their backs to (Van Nuys) boulevard and there is nothing for them to say they are connected to other parts of the area," said Pollak.

Pollak said the project would also include design plans for streetscape improvements along Van Nuys Boulevard between Saticoy Street and Parthenia Avenue, as well as some mixed-use commercial and residential units for some areas, possibly two or three blocks east and west of Van Nuys.

Why Panorama City?

"I just felt that the area would be a very good candidate for the work that we have in mind to do for the Valley," said Pollak. "There is a lot of redevelopment opportunity there with the kind of deep and wide space needed for something like this, plus it's one of the areas in the Valley most in need of redevelopment right now. There are residents there who need and want a better connection between where they live and where they shop and eat."

All told, the area under consideration encompasses about two to three square miles, although that could change as the final proposal, expected to be completed by mid-March, is crafted.

One of the newest commercial developments in the area is the 190,000-square-foot Plaza del Valle at Chase Street and Van Nuys Boulevard, just north of where the proposed town center would begin. The mall is an outdoor collection of about 200 small but colorful retail discount stalls, similar to those found in the plazas of Mexico and The Americas.

While popular, the mall is located along a two-block stretch of parking lot behind a Wells Fargo bank, an 88 Cents Store and a smattering of shuttered shops facing outward toward the boulevard.

"That's a perfect example because you can't see it from the street," said Pollak. "Our plan is work on removing some structures and redeveloping others in a way that would open up the area to give existing developments like the mall more visibility and link them together."

Carey Lefton, president of Agora Realty and Management, Plaza del Valle's management firm, and a partner with Socially Responsible Investing LLC, the developer, supports the idea.

"About half of the population of the Valley lives within (the parameters) of our plaza and the Panorama Mall to the south," said Lefton. "But the area is lacking any type of a cultural lifestyle center, so I see (the UDAT plan) as a great benefit to the community and to our retailers."

Bob Scott, former Los Angeles planning commissioner and Alliance founder, said if the Panorama City plan pans out, Pacoima would be the next in line for a similar study.

"What happens with these kinds of UDAT projects is that when you create a consensus and a strong sense of unity around a concept, it's possible to encourage the public sector to also get on board," said Scott.

Pollak said his team would push for funding for the Panorama project from city, state and federal resources, but he couldn't say yet how much he expected the final price tag to be.

Meanwhile, the city's planning department is currently under its own directive from the city council to complete a separate community design overlay district plan for Panorama City that would solicit community feedback as a first step in making redevelopment recommendations.

For Tom Rath, a planner in charge of the overlay plan, an UDAT study for the same area is like mana from heaven: Funding in his department for design studies is tight, and volunteers typically don't come knocking on his door.

As a result, Pollak's UDAT is getting some help from Rath: maps of the area, meeting space and even copies of the city's overlay draft plans as they develop.

"We are grossly understaffed, relative to the size of the city and basically we have one planner for every 200,000 people or so," said Rath. "So these volunteers could do a very effective job, and it's our hope that one plan for Panorama City will fit inside the other."