Trust Fund Asked in Lieu of Starting Valley Subway Leg

County transportation officials Monday proposed placing money for San Fernando Valley rail projects in a trust fund instead of beginning subway construction in the Valley in September, as now required by state law.

The fund was suggested as an alternative to the Southern California Rapid Transit District’s plan to start building 4,500 feet of subway tunnel north of Universal City in order to satisfy state law.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission plan would require an amendment to a 1984 law that requires the start of subway construction in the Valley within one year of the Sept. 29, 1986, ground breaking downtown.

Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), the law’s sponsor, said Monday that he opposes the trust-fund proposal because Valley Metro Rail money would be “one vote away from being switched to something else.”

“And the money would be in the hands of people who don’t have the Valley’s best interests at heart,” he said.

A Familiar Fear

Robbins and other Valley elected officials have for years expressed fear that the RTD will indefinitely postpone bringing the subway over the Hollywood Hills or building the Valley leg of the North Hollywood-to-downtown system.

Officials saw their fears justified a year ago when the County Transportation Commission, which is building a countywide network of light-rail lines, proposed substituting light rail for the more costly Metro Rail subway earmarked for the 2.3-mile segment between Universal City and Lankershim and Chandler boulevards in North Hollywood.

The substitution could save up to $200 million, county transit officials say.

The trust-fund plan outlined Monday would preserve the option of using street-level light rail for the disputed segment.

Rick Richmond, the county commission’s executive director, said a study of the feasibility of changing the designation of the Valley leg to light rail should be completed in about one year.

But “it could be difficult to obtain a change in state law,” he said.

Robbins’ law also requires the RTD to spend on the Valley part of the subway 15% of the non-federal funds spent on Metro Rail construction outside the Valley.

RTD officials said the 15% will amount to $74 million by 1994, the earliest date by which the district could complete Metro Rail from downtown to Universal City.

The $74 million will build nearly a mile of twin-track tunnel--from Universal City to the Ventura Freeway--that will be used at first to store trains.

The other 1.4 miles of the Valley leg, plus more tunneling for train storage, are scheduled for completion after 1994, at the same time as a Metro Rail branch on Wilshire Boulevard to Fairfax Avenue is built.

Robbins Favors It

Robbins has endorsed the RTD plan, and the state Transportation Commission has tentatively agreed to pay half the cost of the Valley subway construction if the county and City of Los Angeles each contribute $18.5 million.

Among supporters of the trust-fund plan were Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo, a member of the County Transportation Commission, who previously opposed the RTD’s plan to use state, county and city funds to begin tunnel construction in September.

Woo said he would endorse the trust fund “unreservedly if the LACTC would pay the full local share of $37 million,” including the city’s $18.5 million.

He suggested that the money come from the extra half-cent of sales tax that the county’s voters approved in 1980 for transit projects.

At a meeting Monday, members of the county Transportation Commission’s Rapid Transit Committee said it makes sense to set money aside in a Valley fund rather than spend it immediately because the track north of Universal would lie unused for up to a decade.

“If we spend that $74 million now,” Commissioner John T. LaFollette said, “we may not be doing anything to help the people for years or maybe forever.”