Bernson Asks L.A. to Help Pay for Bridge

Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson on Wednesday proposed that the city help finance construction of a bridge across Aliso Canyon with $2 million left over from another bridge project.

The Aliso Canyon bridge is a key part of a proposal to develop 1,300 acres in the Porter Ranch area of Chatsworth.

If the city approves the proposed 3,000 residences and 7.5 million square feet of commercial space, Porter Ranch Development Co. could be required to pay much of the cost of the bridge, which would allow completion of an unfinished 2-mile stretch of Sesnon Boulevard. The bridge and street extension are expected to cost $9.5 million.

“It’s not a question of if it should be built, it’s a question of when,” Bernson said of the 700-foot-long bridge. Bernson’s motion Wednesday was to help fund the bridge with the $2-million surplus from a separate bridge project. That bridge is being built to eliminate a jog in Nordhoff Street between Tampa and Corbin avenues in Northridge.

Sent to Committee

The motion was referred to the council’s Public Works Committee for consideration in the next several weeks. The council ordinarily abides by the wishes of a member on projects in his or her district.

The developer’s Porter Ranch plan cites an “urgent need” for the bridge but does not specify how or whether the company, run by Beverly Hills builder Nathan Shapell, would be required to pay for it.

If the development is approved, Shapell is “obviously going to fund part of the cost of the bridge,” said Joseph Lucas, San Fernando Valley district engineer for the city’s Bureau of Engineering. “There has been a lot of discussion and nothing has been finalized” about how much the developer might have to pay, he said.

At a February public hearing on the Porter Ranch plan, some residents complained that the Aliso Canyon bridge would open their neighborhoods to commuters trying to avoid the crowded Simi Valley Freeway.

‘Not Negotiable’

But Bernson said his support for the bridge is “not, in my opinion, negotiable.” No matter what sort of development is approved in Porter Ranch and elsewhere in the north Valley, the bridge is a needed transportation improvement, he said. It will also improve access for firefighters in an area where 15 homes were destroyed and 25 damaged by a brush fire in December, he said.

Bernson has not taken a formal stand on the entire $2-billion Porter Ranch plan, the product of negotiations between the developer, city planners and a citizens committee that Bernson appointed. But he said he will disclose his position April 13 when the city Planning Commission holds a public hearing on the plan.

Earlier this week, city planners recommended that the proposal be changed to hold the developer to 1.5 million square feet of commercial space until the state funds an extra lane in both directions on the Simi Valley Freeway.