Transit Committee Retains 2 Trolley Routes in Running

A key committee of the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission voted Monday night to keep alive two possible routes for the proposed east-west San Fernando Valley trolley, but deadlocked on three other routes.

Routes recommended for further study by unanimous votes were Victory Boulevard and the Southern Pacific Railroad mainline.

But the four-member rapid transit committee was divided 2 to 2 on possible use of the Southern Pacific frieght line between North Hollywood and Warner Center, the Ventura Freeway and the Los Angeles River Flood Control Channel.

The committee voted on the controversial transit issue after a boisterous hearing attended by more than 700 people at Birmingham High School in Van Nuys,.

Most of those who jammed the school’s auditorium were North Hollywood residents opposed to trains in their neighborhoods. But, for the first time since the commission began studying light-rail routes, they were joined by many West Valley residents opposed to trolleys on the Southern Pacific railroad tracks, which run parallel to Victory Boulevard west of the San Diego Freeway.

Jacki Bacharach, who heads the committee, said the full commission will decide Feb. 11 which routes to include in a yearlong environmental study. Commissioners say they will await the environmental study before selecting a route.

In November, the staff concluded more than three years of study by endorsing the North Hollywood-to-Woodland Hills freight line.

The line would begin at the proposed Metro Rail subway station at Chandler and Lankershim boulevards in North Hollywood, then go west on the railroad right of way in the Chandler median.

At Ethel Avenue, the route heads northwest to Oxnard Street. At the San Diego Freeway, it jogs north to Victory, then largely follows Victory west to Woodland Hills.

The staff report set off a storm of opposition from homeowners and Orthodox Jews, who have congregations and activity centers along the route.

The commission responded by ordering staff members to suggest and evaluate alternate routes, although it has repeatedly refused to withdraw the Chandler-Victory line from further consideration.

The staff then recommended that three routes remain in contention--the two endorsed by the committee Monday and the Souther Pacific freight line.

Besides retaining the freight line in its recommendations, the staff in its latest report suggested a variation of that route in which the Chandler segment would be eliminated.

Instead, the trains would travel on Oxnard between the Hollywood Freeway and Ethel Avenue. But the committee on Monday voted to halt consideration of Oxnard.

The Eastern Sector Transit Coalition, which has organized much of the North Hollywood opposition, has repeatedly attacked the staff’s refusal to drop the Chandler-Victory route, contending it would disturb too many residents.

The coalition, formed by 17 North Hollywood homeowner and religious groups, has promoted use of the Southern Pacific mainline.

The group has released several position papers attacking the staff for what coalition leaders say are underestimates of ridership and overestimates of construction costs for the mainline route.

On the other hand, the Chandler-Victory freight line route has drawn praise from a scattering of people who argue that, because it uses existing right of way, it is the least costly and disruptive route.