Tarzana Property Owners Association - recent accomplishments

Throughout the years since our founding in 1962, TPOA has played a major role in the community. Some of our accomplishments are summarized in the letter by Helen Norman, President from 1998-2005. Others are briefly noted here.

• 1962. Organized a successful protest against the establishment of a large religious institution and school in the middle of a residential neighborhood on Rosita Avenue. This action precipitated the founding of TPOA
• 1964. Led a successful campaign to bar lunch hour strip shows from the Skol Room of the Corbin Bowl on Ventura Blvd.
• 1965. Successfully opposed the rezoning of 126 acres of hillside land north of Mulholland Drive and southeast of Trinidad Road from RA to R1
• 1966. Teamed with the Encino Property Owners in effort to upgrade the businesses on Ventura Blvd.
• 1966. Prevailed upon the city to dedicate and improve the traffic island at Rosita and Vanalden. Informally called Frankel Park
• 1966. Helped to obtain a condition for offsite drainage facilities to a zone change from RA-1 to RA-1-H for a 165 acre parcel on Vanalden Avenue
• 1966. Helped obtain priority of funding for flood control drainage systems on Vanalden and Wilbur Avenues.
• 1968. A long campaign by TPOA and the Tarzana Elementary School PTA, culminated in construction of the footbridge, decorated with Peanuts characters, over Wilbur Avenue.
• 1969. Helped defeat a move by the Post Office to annex the Tarzana post office to Van Nuys.
• 1971. Helped defeat rezoning for a 104 acre continuation of the Braemar housing development.
• 1971. Lost an 18-month fight to delay Braemar expansion until adequate provisions were in place for traffic increase on Vanalden and flood control.
• 1972. Helped defeat a proposal to develop 23 condominiums on an 11 acre steep slope between Rancho Street and Karen Drive, just east of El Caballero Country Club
• 1974. Worked with a coalition including Pacific Palisades homeowners to defeat the plan for a six lane “Reseda to the Sea”, extending Reseda Blvd. across the Santa Monicas to Sunset Blvd.
• 1975. Joined with 24 other organizations to implement a gala 50th anniversary celebration for the opening of Mulholland
• 1975. Won a hard fought battle, coordinating with Encino homeowners, to impose a 3-story height limit on further buildings on Ventura.
• 1976. Opposed Councilman Snyder’s attempt to emasculate the Community Plan process by changing requirements to options. This after the years of effort on the Encino-Tarzana Community Plan and nine prior hearings.
• 1977. Vigorously opposed the adoption of an ordinance which would allow communal recreation facilities( primarily tennis courts) to be built across property lines
• 1978. Supported local residents and Councilman Braude in successful opposition to a 23 court, lighted commercial tennis club to be located on Reseda just south of Wells and Tarzana Dr.
• 1978. Joined with the Federation and other organizations to successfully reject the proposal to turn the Sepulveda Basin into a racetrack complex including parking for 30,000 cars
• 1979. Adopted a stance to carefully consider all proposals for Olympic facilities in the Sepulveda Basin after careful evaluation of all data.
• 1980. Received the keys to the new Community Center at Tarzana Park from Councilperson Joy Picus. TPOA had actively supported the effort to build the recreation center since 1977
• 1980. Culminated 9 years of TPOA effort to downgrade the Tradewood Tract; 490 attached units downgraded to 212 single family, grading reduced by 300,000 cubic yards, no structures in Mullholland Scenic Corridor
• 1980. Successfully achieved reduced density on two GAC properties from 478 to 238 homesites; Caballero Canyon part of 1066 acre open space
• 1981. TPOA appeal successfully whittled the Southridge (Herman) tract, 4200 Reseda (South of El Cab, east of Reseda) down from 204 lots to 154 dwelling units on 238 acres
• 1982. Successfully fought to defeat a conditional use permit for a 75 game machine arcade next to the Tarzana Theater. Our action caused applicants for two other arcades to withdraw their applications
• 1982. Joined with Wilbur Avenue PTA and Advisory Committee to defeat a proposal by the Little Hoover Commission and Board of Education to close Wilbur Avenue School.
• 1983. Supported a 150 bed expansion of the Medical Center of Tarzana by a vigorous letter campaign.
• 1984. Worked with neighbors to force the closure of a Swingers Club in a single family residence on Romero
• 1984. Joined with local officials in successfully urging the State Board of Control to approve the purchase by the Santa Monica Mountain Conservancy of the 381 acre Tradewood Tract located south of Mulholland and west of Vanalden.
• 1985. Joined with the other homeowners groups along Ventura to successfully push for a one year moratorium to halt high rise construction on Ventura Blvd.
• 1986. Participated in the successful suit brought by The Federation of Hillside and Canyon Associations and The Center for Law in the Public Interest to force zoning to be brought into compliance with the Community Plans
• 1987. Work over the past several years with Councilman Braude’s office and local businesses resulted is reducing the density of the medical “Super Block”. Trips were reduced from a proposed 11,000 daily vehicle trips to a projected 350 trips.
• 1988. Worked with the neighbors on Donna and Councilman Braude’s office to minimize the adverse effects of the Antigua Square strip mall by limiting parking on Donna, limiting hours of operation, and imposing conditions on the adjacent parking lot.
• 1988. Worked with Chabad of the Valley to develop an acceptable set of restrictions to their expansion at 18211 Burbank. Those conditions were accepted by the Planning Department hearing officer.
• 1989. Reviewed and concurred with plans for the Tarzana Gardens retirement home at 18700 Burbank. The facility opened later in the year.
• 1989. Joined with the Woodland Hills Homeowners organization and Tarzana Chamber of Commerce to successfully oppose the expansion of the Bully Pub (formerly the Candy Cat) to double in size and allow topless dancers.
• 1990. Participated in the opening ceremony of the new Post Office. Site was originally planned for an office complex; TPOA suggested site for the Post Office and worked with the developer and Government agencies to secure site
• 1991. TPOA celebrated the passage by the City Council of the Ventura Corridor Specific Plan which will limit the size of development on Ventura and provide funding for traffic mitigation
• 1992. Successfully opposed the Mulholland Estates request for lot and entry gate setback, and sideyard variances
• 1992. 21 years of effort by TPOA and other organizations culminated in the adoption of the Mulholland Scenic Parkway Specific Plan, preserving the 22-mile corridor and imposing grading and building restrictions within 500 feet of Mulholland
• 1993. Hosted a debate by 10 candidates for mayor at the Annual Tarzana Town Hall meeting
• 1994. Years of effort culminated in the acquisition of 80 acres of Corbin Canyon as parkland and the promise of an additional 337 acres as funds become available.
• 1995. Joined with the Encino Property Owners to oppose continued operation of a synagogue at Santa Rita and Lindley. The synagogue has operated without a permit in this R1 area for over 5 years.
• 1995. Sought improvement of the extremely hazardous stretch of Corbin between Rosita and Calvin. We deemed the subsequent plan as out of scale with the problem and suggested a simpler plan. The city rejected our plan, cancelled the project, and the danger remains to this day.
• 1996. TPOA recognized the monumental contributions of Louise Frankelby creating a new board position: President Emeritus. Al Margolin and Joel Palmer were similarly recognized
• 1997. TPOA joined with the Chamber of Commerce and REMAX to successfully appeal a Zoning Administrator’s granting of substandard parking, commercial vehicle parking and other waivers for a self storage facility at Ventura and Vanalden. That site is now the Tarzana Community Center.
• 1997. Ten years of TPOA effort, vigorously supported by Councilman Braude, were capped by renaming the park at the top of Reseda as Marvin Braude Gateway Park
• 1998. TPOA joined many other homeowners groups and Councilwoman Laura Chick in successfully establishing that all septage waste from all of Los Angeles would not be deposited at Tillman; three additional sites have been established.
• 1998. TPOA worked with the zoning administrator to develop a plan to minimize the impact of wireless telecom antennas by encouraging screening and joint usage
• 1998 The City Council approved the formation of the Tarzana Business Improvement District (BID), culmination of many years effort by TPOA board members.
• 1999. TPOA worked with the property owners to eliminate three of the hideous billboards in our community: at the Shell Station at Ventura and Reseda, at the northwest corner of Ventura and Reseda, and at West Valley Nursery.
• 2000. TPOA joined Encino Spa Homeowners Association and Villa Espana Homeowners Association in successfully opposing Pacific Bell’s request to install an unattractive, 10 foot high antenna on the roof at Lindley and Ventura
• 2001. TPOA and neighbors of Braemar Country Club succeeded in convincing the club to modify proposed architectural changes including replacing a proposed 2-story, glaring white building with a single story structure matching the existing clubhouse and reducing the floor area from 35,000 to 24,000 square feet.
• 2002. Three years of dreaming, scheming, and money raising culminated in the opening of the Tarzana Community and Cultural Center. Donations of time, material, and money from many Tarzana residents, organizations, and businesses has resulted in the beautiful oasis in which many community events take place including our monthly TPOA meetings
• 2002. Years of effort by TPOA and other organizations culminated in the official opening of the 80 acre Corbin Canyon Park
• 2003. TPOA supported the proposal for a 112 unit senior independent living project at the northwest corner of Ventura and Etiwanda with the conditions that the project contain a circular drop-off court and plant trees along the flood control channel. The project is under construction in late 2007.
• 2003. The Tarzana Neighborhood Council was certified by the City, with TPOA’s Len Shaffer as president and with two other TPOA board members. Over the subsequent years TPOA and TNC have worked closely to maintain and improve our community.
• 2003. Streets in Melody Acres were finally paved (after only 50 years) thanks to the tireless efforts of the Melody Acres Homeowners Association, homeowners in the area, and TPOA.
• 2004. Worked with the Islamic Center of Reseda at 18206 Victory (actually in Tarzana) to develop a set of acceptable conditions for their expansion.
• 2005. The Orange line is up and running after two years of construction. TPOA worked with the Melody Acres Homeowners Association and homeowners all along the route to ensure that the project included a bike path/pedestrian path, extensive landscaping, and soundwalls, and to retain the Red Barn feed store.
• 2006. Successfully worked to require that Walgreen’s at Ventura and Mecca conform to the Business Improvement District’s Streetscape Plan including windows on the Ventura frontage
• 2007. Joined with concerned neighbors to successfully appeal the granting of a conditional use permit for the Barsana Dham Hindu Meditation Center, 5530 Donna, resulting in number of event and parking restrictions which limit the intrusiveness (and probably the viability) of the center.
• 2007. TPOA is a leading participant in the effort to adopt a meaningful anti-mansionization ordinance; read about these activities elsewhere on the website.

We continue to work with sister organization in Tarzana and surrounding communities to preserve and enhance the community of Tarzana and our city.

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