Businessmen, Homeowners Disagree : Valley Rail Plan Praised, Deplored

A proposed North Hollywood-to-Canoga Park trolley line was praised by business leaders but attacked by homeowners at a public hearing in Van Nuys Tuesday.

Sanford Paris, representing the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., called the 14.3-mile light-rail project a “vital link in the overall pattern of Valley traffic.”

But Seymour Feuerstein, representing the Chandler Boulevard Neighborhood Watch group, said that trains running every six minutes each way alongside his house would cause “total havoc.”

He told members of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission that, once more people learn of the proposed trolley, “you will have the entire Valley coming out here yelling and screaming.”

Direction Questioned

Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino, disputed the plan to run the line east to west in the south Valley.

“I question whether this is where people want to go,” he said.

The proposed line would be similar to the San Diego Trolley and the San Francisco Municipal Railway.

From the outset, planners have determined that, for much of its length, the line would operate on the Southern Pacific right of way.

There still are various route options at the east and west ends of the line, but several proposed routes have been dropped during the year the project has been under study.

Apparently abandoned is a proposal to run the line along Victory Boulevard at street level from the San Diego Freeway to Lankershim Boulevard, and then along Lankershim to Chandler Boulevard.

The staff urged that Victory be dropped from consideration, saying that route would be “too costly and disruptive.” Victory would need widening to accommodate the line, forcing out many businesses.

Although the commission has not yet formally accepted the recommendation, the Victory route was not included in maps that commission staff members distributed to those attending two recent workshops on route studies.

Similarly, an alternative that calls for routing the line on Burbank Boulevard between Lankershim and Fulton Avenue appears to be doomed for the same reasons.

The study released last week reported that using Burbank would displace 65 businesses, six apartment buildings, a fire station and a church. Also, 980 curbside parking spaces would be lost.

Chandler Route

“I expect to recommend that the Chandler alignment be selected over the Burbank alignment,” said Richard Stanger, the commission’s director for rail development.

The latest study also has led staff members to favor building an elevated line west of De Soto Avenue to avoid causing traffic congestion in Warner Center. The favored alternative would turn off Victory at Owensmouth Avenue, travel south on Owensmouth to Oxnard Street, then turn around and start back across the Valley.

The study also concluded that four and possibly nine overpasses would be required at major intersections to prevent traffic jams.

Overpasses, like elevated lines, are typically 16 feet above the street. Staff planners say they are noisier, more costly and more visible that lines built at street level.

The report estimates the cost of the Valley line at $300 million.

The 11-member commission, which is building rail lines with the proceeds of the 0.5% sales tax Los Angeles County voters approved in 1980 to finance transit improvements, could select a Valley route this fall.

There is money for only one rail line, and the Valley is competing with two other routes for funds. The rivals are a proposed South Bay line and a route from downtown Los Angeles through Lincoln Heights to Pasadena.