Foes Get New Chance to Block Use of Ball Field

A ruling by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office may have breathed new life into an attempt by a group of Sylmar residents to keep a youth baseball league from using a new 22-acre baseball field.

The city Board of Zoning Appeals failed to come up with a quorum Tuesday and canceled a hearing at which it was to rule on a residential appeal of a conditional-use permit issued to the Sylmar Independent Baseball League.

Opponents of the permit were outraged because city officials informed them that the Board of Zoning Appeals’ jurisdiction to rule on their appeal would expire before a new hearing could be held, which meant the league’s permit to use the field, at Simshaw Avenue and Gridley Street, was valid.

The residents’ only recourse, a city official said, was to appeal to the City Council. But that did not seem an enticing option because their councilman, Ernani Bernardi, already had come out in support of the baseball league’s using the field. Council members traditionally defer to a colleague on a matter affecting only his or her district.

But Wednesday afternoon, a day after the appeal was sidetracked, Deputy City Atty. Jeri Burge ruled that, according to the city code, the board can still decide the case. The ruling was in response to a request for a clarification from the zoning appeals board.

In a 1979 case, which involved a restaurant seeking a permit to sell beer and alcohol, the city attorney’s office said the zoning appeals board was only directed to issue a ruling within 75 days of an appeal but that it was not mandatory, Burge said.

In the case of the Sylmar residents’ appeal, the 75-day period expires June 11. But because the city code requires that there be 25 days notice to the public before a hearing can be held, the board told those opposed to the baseball field that it could not hear their appeal.

Burge said that even though the board can legally hear the appeal, the baseball league can still request that it be transferred to the City Council. That move might not be expedient, however, because the council might not rule before the league’s season ends in mid-July, a spokesman for Bernardi’s office said. The board scheduled its next hearing on the matter July 12.

Dick Jackson, president of the baseball league, said he will request a transfer of the appeal if league officials decide it is in the league’s best interests.

Sylmar residents opposing the permit were elated by Burge’s ruling.

“At least we will be able to state our views before what we will hope will be an impartial jury,” said Susan Kacy, who filed the appeal on behalf of the permit’s opponents.

Because of the appeal, the league--made up of 700 boys and girls, ages 6 to 17, from Sylmar, San Fernando and Pacoima--has been playing its games at seven or eight sites, Jackson said.

This was to be the first year the league used the new, eight-diamond field. For 25 years, it had played its games on land nearby. It had to move when that property was acquired by Los Angeles Mission College.

“The most devastating aspect of this has been the financial loss,” Jackson said. In the past, he said, the league ran a concession stand whose proceeds complemented money raised from team sponsors and registration fees. “We’re losing a lot of . . . community help,” he said.

In 1984, the league was given access to the 22 acres as part of an agreement between the city and the property’s owner, a developer of an 800-unit mobile home park next to the field. The developer still holds deed to the property, but is in the process of transferring ownership to the league, Jackson said.

Opponents contend that their neighborhood might be disrupted by the league’s scheduling games on Sundays or weekday evenings after 7 p.m. They also say there would be increased traffic congestion near the baseball field.