Berman Seeking to Restore Lake and Ambiance at Hansen Dam

Rep. Howard L. Berman said Thursday he intends to initiate a long-term plan to restore the recreational lake at Hansen Dam Park that has all but vanished after years of silt and gravel buildup.

Berman (D-Panorama City), appeared before the House subcommittee on energy and water development, asking it to set aside $256,000 for Hansen Dam parks projects in the budget for the 1989 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

The $256,000 represents a two-year accumulation of funds generated by the sale of gravel that is being dredged in the area of the dam, in Lake View Terrace.

Berman said he and a community advisory group are deciding how best to spend the money. Their overall goal, he said, is to devise a master plan with federal and local government agencies that will eventually lead to the creation of a new recreational lake.

“We are in our earliest planning stages right now,” Berman said Thursday. He said revitalizing Hansen Dam Park is a priority project for the east San Fernando Valley.

“We are talking about an area of the Valley that is less affluent and needs viable recreational facilities,” Berman said.

Hansen Dam is on federally owned property bordered, generally speaking, by Wentworth Street, Glenoaks Boulevard, Osborne Street and the Foothill Freeway. The Army Corps of Engineers operates the dam, which controls water from both Big and Little Tujunga canyons. The Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks leases land from the corps for recreational uses.

In the past 20 years the Hansen Dam area, once a thriving park, contained a 130-acre lake used for boating, fishing and swimming. In 1969 and 1980, however, floods carried in millions of tons of sand, which virtually filled the lake.

Without it, park patronage dramatically dropped. In the last eight years the park area has slipped into disrepair, becoming a haven for transients and the homeless, plagued by crime.

“There’s been a lot of frustration in the community because this park was allowed to get in this condition in the first place,” said Steve Walker of Sunland, who is serving on the advisory committee.

He and other members of the committee said the recreation money has renewed interest in pressuring government agencies to improve Hansen Dam.

“This is just our foot in the door,” said Phyllis Hines of Lake View Terrace. “At least we can begin to make some small improvements.”

Under a measure that Berman pushed through Congress in 1986, the Army Corps of Engineers allows a private firm to dredge the government property in exchange for a portion of the profits from the sale of the gravel.

The funds, which are deposited in the Treasury’s general fund, are earmarked for recreation improvements at the dam’s park.

“We didn’t want to lose the chance now to get this appropriation process started,” Berman said. “By the time we get the money, we should know how we want to spend it.”

Berman said he is looking into a long-term lake-restoration plan that will allow the private dredging firm, Channel Basin and Reclamation, to gradually remove the silt and gravel from the dried-up lake bed so water can again build up behind the dam. The company has already dredged several spots, creating small ponds.

The first task, though, is to get the various government agencies “in the cooperative mode,” he said.

Officials with the Army engineers and city parks department agreed that they would like to see the lake restored, but said detailed planning must take place first.