Session to Assess Impact of Porter Ranch Project

Concern among state officials about the effect a proposed $2-billion development would have on the Simi Valley Freeway has resulted in a meeting today of Caltrans engineers, state legislative aides and representatives of the developer.

The meeting marks the most active involvement yet by state officials in discussions about the 1,300-acre development proposal, which is for the Porter Ranch area of Chatsworth and which would require approval by the city of Los Angeles.

The Porter Ranch Development Co., run by Beverly Hills builder Nathan Shapell, wants to build about 3,000 residences and 7.5 million square feet of commercial space on the vacant property north of the freeway and west of Tampa Avenue. The project would be constructed over a 20- to 30-year period.

Concerns About Impact

“We would not be having this meeting unless Caltrans had some concerns and the senator had some concerns about the impact of the size of the commercial development on the freeway and the interchanges,” as well as on Topanga Canyon Boulevard, a state highway, said Hunt Braly, an aide to state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), who called the meeting.

Davis and Assemblywoman Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge), who will be represented by aides at the meeting, were not available for comment Wednesday.

One expected topic is how soon the freeway will be expanded from three to four lanes in each direction between Balboa Boulevard and the Ventura County line, Braly said. The expansion is in the state’s five-year transportation improvement program, but the $15-billion program has a $4.5-billion deficit, he said.

The Los Angeles Department of City Planning has recommended that the Porter Ranch project be held to 1.5 million square feet until the freeway expansion is funded.

Cut Supported

Last week, Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson announced that he supports cutting the proposal to about 6 million square feet. The Planning Commission is scheduled to consider the matter May 11, although a final decision is expected to be made by the council later this year.

Another issue is whether the freeway--even if it is eventually expanded to five lanes in each direction--could handle the traffic from a project of the size proposed by Porter Ranch Development, Braly said.

The freeway handles an estimated 145,000 traffic trips a day now between the Ventura County line and the San Diego Freeway, said Wally Rothbart, Caltrans chief of project studies for the Los Angeles area.

By the year 2010, the Porter Ranch project, if built as proposed, would generate 164,840 daily traffic trips across a broad area of the northwest Valley, including on the freeway and on present and future surface streets, according to a draft environmental impact report. The report, released in January, was commissioned by Porter Ranch Development.

Traffic Estimates

Caltrans is preparing estimates of what freeway traffic will be in the next 20 years, Rothbart said. The agency needs to know, among other things, how much Porter Ranch traffic would use the freeway, he said.

A traffic consultant hired by the developer concluded that new streets and other improvements in the project would lessen overall congestion compared to what it would be if nothing were built, said Paul Clarke, a spokesman for Porter Ranch Development.

That comparison has been criticized by members of PRIDE, a neighborhood group opposed to the size of the proposed commercial development. Opponents say many of the same improvements would be made eventually with or without the proposed office and retail complex.