Freeway Neighbors Offer to Finance Sound Barrier

In what may be the first offer of its kind in California, a group of Toluca Lake residents Friday volunteered to lend the state money to build a sound wall on a stretch of the Ventura Freeway that passes through their community.

“It’s fine with us,” said Ken Steele, assistant director for the state Department of Transportation in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday started proceedings to charge homeowners in a proposed assessment district an estimated $5,000 each over a 10-year period to build the sound wall on the north side of the freeway between Cahuenga Boulevard and Clybourn Avenue. The action was requested in a petition signed by 78 homeowners from the area.

Rick Richmond, executive director of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, said the assessment district “is the first one in this area,” adding, “We think it may be the first one in the state.”

Low Priority

Caltrans is responsible for financing sound-wall construction. However, the Toluca Lake sound wall is low on the agency’s list of projects.

“It stands about 54th on a list of 110 sound walls to be built in Los Angeles County,” said Richard E. Llewellyn II, whose Kling Street home is a block from the freeway.

Adding that sound walls are being built at a rate of one a year in Los Angeles County, Llewellyn said, “Toluca Lake didn’t want to wait 54 years.”

Llewellyn, an attorney, said he himself came up with the idea of using an assessment district to finance construction of the sound wall. He took the idea to Councilman Joel Wachs, who offered to introduce a city study if Llewellyn could show neighborhood support.

Llewellyn said he collected the signatures of 78 out of 82 homeowners contacted and submitted the petitions to Wachs.

Under state legislation approved several years ago, residents can be repaid by Caltrans when and if the sound wall in their neighborhood moves up high enough on the priority list to qualify for financing. But no one could say when or if that would ever occur.

Llewellyn, who said noise from trucks on the freeway occasionally wakes him at night, doesn’t mind waiting for repayment.

“We are essentially loaning the money to the state for 50 years,” he said.

The cost to each home will be determined after a city study of how many homes should be included in the assessment district and the cost of the sound wall. Preliminary estimates show the project will cost each homeowner $500 a year for 10 years.

Llewellyn said it is worth the cost because it will increase property values.

The proposed assessment district must receive the City Council’s final approval. The council usually approves assessment districts unless a majority of property owners protest at a public hearing. If a majority protests, 12 of the 15 council votes are required to create the assessment district.

No assessment district has ever been created in the city for financing sound-wall construction, said Gil Farias of the city Public Works Department. Assessment districts are usually used to finance installation of sidewalks, sewers and street lights.

The theory behind forming an assessment district is that those residents who benefit most from improvements should pay for them.

Llewellyn said transportation officials are excited over the neighborhood effort. “If it works, it may be a way for many communities to get their walls,” he said.