Beverly Hills : No Action on Waterworks Plan

The City Council took no action Tuesday on a suggestion to spend $10,000 to study whether the abandoned water treatment plant at La Cienega Park can be put to use.

Vice Mayor Benjamin H. Stansbury Jr. said it might be worthwhile to convert the structure to a public meeting hall, but his suggestion that money be allocated for a preliminary study won little support.

Councilmen Robert K. Tanenbaum and Max Salter said the space now occupied by the hacienda-style waterworks would be better used for playing fields and open green space as contemplated by the Beverly Hills Parks Department.

Councilwoman Donna Ellman expressed lukewarm support for a study to determine the safety of the structure, built in 1928, but Stansbury conceded afterward that the proposal did not have enough votes to go ahead.

Mayor Charlotte Spadaro was absent from the study session at which Stansbury voiced his proposal.

City Manager Edward S. Kreins spoke against it, recalling that the council voted down a more elaborate, $50,000 study of the building’s possible uses earlier this year.

If the building were maintained, he said, planners would have to redo their proposal for renovating the park, which has won the support of neighbors and athletic groups who are the most frequent users of the facility.

The waterworks, located near the corner of La Cienega Boulevard and Olympic Boulevard, was used to remove offensive smells from well water and to make it softer for use in homes.