Homeowners, Industry Differ : 2 Groups at Odds Over Trolley Lines

Homeowner groups and business organizations continued Wednesday to choose sides in the dispute over commuter trolley service in the San Fernando Valley.

Support for an east-west light-rail line through the south side of the Valley was offered by the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn., a 31-year-old Woodland Hills-based business group.

But a north-south line in the east Valley was endorsed by Homeowners of Encino, a residential group.

Sanford P. Paris, president of the industry and commerce association, said development of a trolley line along an existing Southern Pacific Railroad branch route between Universal City and Warner Center would benefit residential and commercial areas.

Such an east-west line would be “the least disruptive to traffic during and after construction” if it used crossings above or below the street, he said.

It would link Pierce and Valley colleges, the Van Nuys Civic Center and the Sepulveda Basin and would be anchored at both ends by major business districts, Paris said.

Homeowners of Encino President Gerald A. Silver said his group prefers the north-south “San Fernando” route because “virtually no residents will be impacted by noise” from its operation.

His group opposes routes closer to Encino because of the noise and traffic congestion they might inflict on residential areas, he said.

Furthermore, Silver said, a line starting in the Sylmar-San Fernando area could be used to carry riders “directly to downtown Los Angeles” whether or not Los Angeles’ MetroRail line is eventually connected to the Valley.

The endorsements are being sent to a 32-member committee created by the Los Angeles City Council that is studying a number of different Valley light-rail routes. The panel has been given an Aug. 1 deadline to make a recommendation.

The council, in turn, has until Sept. 1 to recommend a route of its own to the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission. If no plan with broad support is submitted to the county panel, available funds will be shifted to trolley projects elsewhere in the county, according to commissioners.