Wachs Against Moving Troubled Teens’ School

Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs, under intense pressure from his new constituents in the Sunland-Tujunga area, has announced that he will oppose the move of a high school for troubled teen-agers into the neighborhood.

After remaining silent on the issue for weeks while area residents vigorously lobbied him to oppose relocation of Erickson Center for Adolescent Advancement, Wachs wrote a letter Tuesday to the city zoning administrator strongly urging that the center be rejected.

However, it is unclear what effect Wachs’ opposition will have.

The center, in an industrial area of Tarzana, is seeking a conditional-use permit to operate in the former Sunair Home for Asthmatic Children, a 15-acre site on McGroarty Street in Sunland. The zoning administrator expects to reach a decision soon on the application for the center’s school and residential program for 13- to 17-year-olds.

Council ‘Input’

The zoning administrator often asks City Council members to make recommendations on controversial matters in their districts, but “the input from a council office is treated just like the input from any interested party,” Associate Zoning Administrator John Parker said.

The zoning administrator’s decision can be appealed and, should it reach City Council, Wachs’ opposition could doom the center’s application. Council members generally defer to the wishes of the colleague whose district would be affected in such local matters.

Erickson administrators said they are undaunted by Wachs’ letter, choosing to “remain optimistic until we get the final word,” public relations director Donna Wilkerson-Kendall said.

Regardless of whether his wishes prevail, Wachs, through his letter, may have gone a long way toward placating an angry group of constituents in a district he inherited just four months ago in a redrawing of district boundaries.

‘Land-Use Issue’

Wachs aide Arline DeSanctis said the councilman’s opposition was not based on political considerations. “With Joel, it was mainly a land-use issue,” DeSanctis said.

In his letter, Wachs praised the center for being a “highly respected institution” meeting a critical need. “Indeed, if the merits of the Erickson center was the issue, there would not be the widespread public opposition which has developed in this case,” he said.

But he said administrators of the center have failed to satisfy residents’ concerns that moving the school into the hillside neighborhood could worsen crime, noise, traffic and fire hazards.