Neighborhood Panel OKs Home Depot Site

Although there was still some resident and community opposition to opening a new Home Depot in Warner Center, Councilwoman Laura Chick’s neighborhood advisory committee supported the retailer’s latest project because it would be trading one “big-box” store for another.

Home Depot officials plan to open a new store on the site on Variel Avenue near Victory Boulevard recently vacated by Sam’s Club. The old building will be razed for a new, slightly smaller store that will be built in its place, reconfigured to face the street, said Greg George, Home Depot’s real estate manager..

Meanwhile, Home Depot officials said the previously announced plan to relocate the Van Nuys store to a site a few blocks away on Roscoe Boulevard has been dropped. The plan, which drew fire from the community, was expected to expand operations to meet demand.

“We’ve concluded that there are other options we can pursue to accomplish that goal without going to the Roscoe/Woodley Boulevard site, and some of those options may be better than [the relocation],” said company spokeswoman Amy Friend.

Because the plan for a Woodland Hills store is in compliance with the Warner Ranch Specific Plan, which outlines zoning for the area, public hearings will not be held and only staff permit approval is necessary to build, said Ken Bernstein, Chick’s deputy planner.

A recent meeting of the Neighborhood Planning Advisory Council served only as a time for the community to offer suggestions to the company and to learn more about the project.

“There was still a significant opposition [at the NPAC meeting],” Bernstein said. “But this time the [council] was unanimously supportive of this site. They felt it was the best possible site since it had been used for many years as a big-box site.”

George said the company expects to file building plans and an application for a building permit with the city in a few weeks. Construction of a 105,700-square-foot store could begin by the end of April.

Community concerns included the impact on traffic, the design of the building and the possibility of day laborers loitering in the vicinity looking for work from contractors shopping at the store, some residents said.

To deal with the issue, Home Depot has agreed to work with Labor Ready, a private company that provides screened workers to employers for a fee. That, coupled with greater enforcement of anti-loitering codes and employer education would help deter workers from looking for jobs at the site, George said.