OK Near for New Warner Center Plan The Los Angeles Planning Commission has approved modifications in the Warner Center Specific Plan that will reduce the cost of development and allow more parking in the area. Trip fees, charges designed to offset the additional traffic generated by new building, have been reduced to $3,567 from $4,907 per trip for office buildings and $3,169 per trip for other types of buildings. (The number of trip fees assigned to any new facility are determined by the size and use of the facility.) Certain other fees pertaining to intercept parking were eliminated. And parking ratios for office development were increased to a maximum of 4 per thousand employees. The proposal, which is expected to pass, goes to the planning and land use management committee in the next few weeks. From there, the plan goes to the Los Angeles City Council. Brad Rosenheim, executive director of the Warner Center Association, which spearheaded the effort to change the specific plan, and principal with Rosenheim & Associates, said he anticipates that the proposal will be approved by July 1. VICA Award Finalists Announced Fourteen businesses, nonprofits and individuals have been selected as finalists in five categories for the Valley Industry and Commerce Association’s (VICA) first “Excellence in Business Awards.” Award winners will be announced at a dinner June 7 at the Sheraton Universal in Universal City. Finalists for the Start-Up Entrepreneurial Company of the Year are Critical Capital LLC of Calabasas and Toolshed Inc. of Northridge. Finalists for the Not-for-Profit of the Year are Meet Each Need With Dignity of Pacoima, the North Valley Occupational Center/Aviation Center in Mission Hills and the Women’s Care Cottage in North Hollywood. Finalists for the Small Business of the Year are Box Brothers of Woodland Hills, Mike’s Roofing of Van Nuys and the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. Finalists for Executive of the Year are Gil Cabral of Spirent Communications, Joseph Cabral of Chatsworth Products Inc. and Irwin Rosenberg of Laidlaw Transit Services. VICA Member Company of the Year finalists are Greer/Daily/Minter of Los Angeles; Kirsch, Kohn & Bridge of Encino; and Precision Dynamics Corp. of San Fernando. Mann Gets OK to Buy Land The Los Angeles City Council has unanimously approved a land sale that will allow Al Mann, founder of Northridge-based MiniMed Inc., to build a new biomedical plant in Sylmar. City Councilman Alex Padilla had blocked the project for months, insisting that Mann meet several conditions, including an internship program for Mission College students. Mann intends to build a cancer drug research and manufacturing plant for one of his fledgling biotech companies, CTL ImmunoTherapies Corp. The facility could open by 2003, creating up to 800 jobs. Mann had originally intended to use the eight-acre property to expand Advanced Bionics Corp., which operated on adjacent land and manufactures ear implants for the hearing-impaired. But Advanced Bionics outgrew the space as Mann waited for approval to buy the land, owned by the Department of Water and Power. Fed up with the delays, Mann moved Advanced Bionics to Santa Clarita last fall and proposed bringing CTL to the Sylmar site. Film Roman-Pentamedia Deal Is Off Film Roman Inc., a Burbank television production company best known for animation, has formally notified Pentamedia Graphics Ltd. that Pentamedia was in material breach of a stock purchase agreement between the two companies. Under the stock purchase agreement, Pentamedia was to acquire a 60-percent stake in Film Roman through the purchase of newly issued common stock of Film Roman in exchange for $15 million. Under the original terms of the agreement, Pentamedia was required to make its payment on March 26, 2001. However, at Pentamedia’s request, Film Roman extended the payment date from the original date until April 13. Pentamedia failed to make the payment and Film Roman extended the date to April 28. Pentamedia missed that deadline too. The companies then entered into another agreement, but Pentamedia has recently indicated it is unwilling or unable to adhere to a key component of the new understanding, providing an acceptable guarantee of payment of the agreed-upon purchase price. Film Roman has terminated the transaction between the companies. The company is now prepared to seek other strategic alliances and financing sources that it was not free to pursue under the restrictions imposed by the stock purchase agreement.