Border Fight Over Mall : Studio City, Sherman Oaks in Traffic Feud

A border war has broken out between Studio City and Sherman Oaks over traffic controls for a controversial shopping center to be built near the communities’ common boundary.

Homeowners from each community want to call the shots over street-design requirements to be imposed on a retail project at the former Tail o’ the Cock restaurant near Coldwater Canyon Avenue on Ventura Boulevard.

The $14-million “Center at Coldwater” project is near the western edge of Studio City, four blocks from Fulton Avenue, frequently called the boundary between that community and Sherman Oaks.

The development has stirred debate in the two communities since builder Herbert M. Piken unveiled construction plans more than a year ago.

Both the Studio City Residents Assn. and the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. protested the original three-story, 86,000-square-foot design. As a result, Piken agreed in September to reduce the project to two stories and scale it back to 46,000 square feet.

Controlled Access

Late last month, Piken also accepted a traffic plan drawn up by Los Angeles transportation engineers to control access to the shopping center and minimize congestion on nearby streets.

The plan--hammered out in negotiations among Piken, homeowners, traffic engineers and City Councilman Michael Woo--requires Piken to immediately undertake street widening and traffic signal work at three intersections that may cost $211,000.

Piken also is required to do extra work at other intersections if other tie-ups result from the shopping center.

Leaders of the Studio City and Sherman Oaks groups are at odds over the traffic plan--and over who will help decide whether extra street work is needed once Piken’s project is open.

Studio City leaders support the city requirements and say it is wise to wait until the project opens before taking more drastic traffic measures.

Sherman Oaks leaders say that the city requirements do not go far enough and that extra controls should be ordered now, not after traffic starts to jam.

The difference of opinion came to a head this week. Sherman Oaks leaders criticized in writing the traffic plan and Woo’s role in it. They repeated the criticism in an emotional confrontation with Studio City leaders.

Studio City leaders, meanwhile, praised the plan and the long-term protection written into it. “We don’t have to be rude to be heard--we only have to work the existing political process,” association president Polly Ward wrote in a newsletter to residents.

In his newsletter, however, Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. president Richard Close complained that Woo “refused to support the residents who live in the area of the Tail o’ the Cock restaurant” who are worried about traffic congestion.

At a Studio City Residents Assn. meeting Tuesday night, Sherman Oaks association director Rose Elmassian warned that the agreement fails to adequately protect homeowners.

“I beg you to listen!” Elmassian said.

Studio City’s Ward pointedly reminded her, “This is Studio City . . . the Coldwater project is in Studio City.”

On Thursday, an aide to Woo said the councilman views the Tail o’ the Cock site as clearly in Studio City and within the jurisdiction of the Studio City association.

“We’re surprised the other organization is making these sounds,” said council deputy Eric Roth, who has been involved from the start with the Tail o’ the Cock talks. “To be honest, we’re perplexed. We’ve pledged to protect the neighborhood at whatever cost.”

Studio City’s Ward said Thursday that her group sticks by its position. The group has planned a traffic workshop with city officials next week to discuss such things as control of commuter traffic along residential Dickens Street near the Piken project site.

Residents of that street have discussed turning it into a cul-de-sac at Coldwater Canyon Avenue to thwart motorists seeking a shortcut around the intersection of Coldwater and Ventura.

Sherman Oaks’ Close, meanwhile, said his group will not back off from the Tail o’ the Cock traffic issue.

“There is no legal division line between Studio City and Sherman Oaks,” Close said. “It’s not where the project is, it’s where the effects are. What area is going to be affected by the traffic is the question.”