Land Use Committee Denies Jewelry Store Pawn Shop Permit

The Jack Kelege and Co. jewelry store was denied a conditional use permit to become a pawn shop by the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council Land Use Committee at Thursday’s Land Use Committee meeting.

The conditional use permit was turned down by a vote of 5-1, and the issue will next be heard by the city’s zoning administrator at Van Nuys City Hall on Monday.

Jack Killedjian, whose storefront is located at 13946 Ventura Boulevard, owns and operates the jewelry store, and was seeking the conditional use permit in order to begin buying jewelry from his clients.

Land Use Committee president, Ron Ziff, said that while the board seemed receptive to this idea, the loan aspects of a pawn shop were not met with the same positive regards.

"The issues that people talked about were security of the jewelry store, bringing the wrong elements into the community, and the fact that it was opening the door to a type of business that many people don’t want to see on Ventura Boulevard," Ziff said.

Killedjian declined comment until after Monday’s zoning administration meeting, but a representative of his, Ariel Gutierrez, who spoke at Thursday’s meeting, commented that the Land Use Committee is ignoring Killedjian's specific intentions.

"Everybody always has these ideas about pawn shops," Gutierrez said. "That’s why we tried to fully emphasize what the business will be at the meeting, but I think they already decided to oppose the project before we even showed up."

"It seemed like they refused to understand," he added. "It was a pretty useless meeting, I think."

According to Gutierrez, specific conditions are imposed upon every pawn shop, and Killedjian has already agreed to impose several conditions upon his business as a means of appeasing the community and his clients.

Gutierrez said that Killedjian would not allow walk-in pawn shop service and would operate by appointment only.

Killedjian also plans to limit himself to three appointments per day, so as to not create any extra traffic, according to Gutierrez.

Gutierrez also commented that Killedjian maintains a “high-end” clientele that he feels he must cater to in other ways than simply selling jewelry.

"Jack [Killedjian] deals with high-end merchandise and high-end clientele, and a lot of times, people don’t want others to know that they may be having a hard time financially," Gutierrez said. "They want to do it privately. He wants to provide that service."