Panel Urges Key Changes in Rail Options

Despite warnings that a delay might cost the San Fernando Valley its place in line for a rail system, a key Los Angeles County transit panel voted Monday to recommend major changes to the package of rail options being studied.

The panel’s recommendations included dropping a proposal to build a line above the Ventura Freeway.

After a stormy session in Los Angeles, the 4-0 vote by the Transit Committee of the county Transportation Commission left both rail proponents and opponents uncertain about what might happen next.

At issue is what to include in a half-finished, $2.1-million environmental and engineering study on Valley rail options. The commission had planned to pick a route and a rail technology by the end of the year based on the study results.

The committee pacified some opponents Monday by recommending to the full commission that any rail line on the 101 Freeway from Universal City to Warner Center be placed underground in residential areas. About eight of the freeway’s 15 miles go through residential areas.

But the committee took no action to halt the study of ground-level rail along another proposed route that also traverses residential areas.

As a result, the route options that the committee recommended for continued study include a much-criticized plan to build a line on a little-used freight right of way from Warner Center to the northern terminus of the Metro Rail subway at Lankershim and Chandler boulevards in North Hollywood.

That route, which roughly parallels Chandler and Victory boulevards, goes through about nine miles of single-family residential areas, commission staff members say.

Many homeowners have complained that the trains, running as frequently as every three minutes, would bring intolerable noise, ground vibrations and traffic congestion to their neighborhoods.

Another change approved by the committee was to add the study of magnetic-levitation and monorail technology as alternatives to the two systems under study, an automated light-rail line and a cross-Valley Metro Rail extension.

The committee recommendations are expected to be considered March 8 by the 11-member commission, which is building a countywide network of rail lines using proceeds from the extra half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 1980.

Falling Behind

Richard Stanger, the commission’s rail development director, warned committee members that the Valley already is falling behind two other proposed light-rail routes with which the Valley line is said to be in competition.

The earliest that the Valley study could be completed would be January, he said, and the extra options “will add at least two months to that.”

A study of the downtown-to-Pasadena light-rail line should be completed in May, while a proposed line from the Century Freeway’s western terminus north past Los Angeles International Airport to Marina del Rey is expected to be finished in June, staff members said.

Both routes have strong local support, while each Valley route option has strong, well-organized opposition from nearby residents.

“I predict the commission will come under strong pressure to act without waiting for the Valley study to be completed,” Stanger said.

Noting that only $800 million--enough to build one more line--is expected to be available to the commission over the next decade, Commissioner Christine E. Reed, a Santa Monica city councilwoman, said: “So the Valley misses out on this $800 million. They will be first in line for the next round.”

Although Valley opponents are well-organized, business leaders and some homeowner leaders reminded commissioners Monday that public opinion polls show wide support for a cross-Valley line, regardless of whether it is on the freeway or on the Chandler-Victory route.

Scoffed at Threats

Many elected officials have scoffed at commission threats to take its money elsewhere unless controversy subsides.

They note that eight of 15 Los Angeles City Council members represent portions of the Valley and that all favor a rail line. They also say the Valley delegation in Sacramento includes some of the Legislature’s more influential members.