Opposition Forms to Revived Sepulveda Basin Plan

Two homeowner groups and a top official of the Audubon Society have come out against a plan to create two lakes and an arts park in the Sepulveda Basin.

The opponents, including the Homeowners of Encino and Save the Basin, a coalition of residents living near the basin, object to the loss of open space and argue that it is poor planning to place a cultural facility under the takeoff pattern of Van Nuys Airport.

They also contend that the city Recreation and Parks Department plan would aggravate traffic congestion near the basin, which is a U. S. Army Corps of Engineers flood-control zone on property leased to the City of Los Angeles for recreational uses.

The opposition was registered in letters to the corps and at a meeting with corps officials last week.

At 2,150 acres, the basin, situated northwest of the junction of the San Diego and Ventura freeways, is the largest tract of open space in the San Fernando Valley.

Plans OKd in 1981

Plans for the lakes and arts park were approved in concept by the City Council in 1981, but have not been implemented because of lack of money.

The opposition was precipitated by the announcement two weeks ago that President Reagan had signed legislation financing half of the $5.2-million cost of building one of the lakes.

Although Kris Ohlenkamp, president of the Audubon Society’s San Fernando Valley chapter, said chances are “very slim” that opponents will force alterations to the plan, both city and corps officials insisted Monday that the objections would be considered.

In the late 1970s, homeowner groups successfully opposed development of Olympic facilities and a race track in the Sepulveda Basin. Ohlenkamp said the society’s Valley chapter has not taken a position, but that he represented a “lot of our members” in urging the corps to drop the plan.

He said that developing the basin would bring in large crowds, driving out the Canada geese and great blue herons that use it as a winter roosting place.

Flooding in Area Noted

Gerald Silver, president of the Homeowners of Encino, said his group objects to the plan because “it’s a misallocation of priorities. They’re going to spend money on lakes and an arts park while Burbank Boulevard, which runs through the basin, is flooded every time it rains.”

Silver said his group also wants Hayvenhurst Avenue, which ends at Burbank Boulevard, extended north through the basin to relieve traffic.

Corps spokeswoman Carol Wolff said the basin plans are not yet firm.

“We are still in the planning and designing mode,” she said. “It is not too late to consider objections.”

Ron Kraus, senior administrative assistant with the city parks department, said the “plan is not set in concrete. It’s still open for discussion.”

Under the master plan approved five years ago, one of the lakes would cover up to 50 acres at the southeast corner of Balboa and Victory boulevards, where corn is now grown.

City officials said the lake could be open to the public by the fall of 1987 for fishing and rowing. Because the lake will be of treated sewage water, swimming will be prohibited.

Marshland Site

The other lake, to cover 11 acres, is planned on marshland just west of the San Diego Freeway and north of Burbank Boulevard.

The smaller lake, which would be a bird sanctuary, could be completed in late 1986, a city spokesman said.