Fear Added Growth : Residents Worried Over Plans to Upgrade Sewer

Like most major sewer construction projects, a proposal to upgrade and expand city plumbing in North Hollywood has caused nearby residents to worry about torn-up streets and traffic disruption.

But 10 miles to the northeast in Sunland-Tujunga, residents are even more concerned that the sewer system expansion would dash their chances of controlling growth. They fear that the additional sewer capacity could double the present population of about 50,000.

The North Hollywood Interceptor Sewer, which would cost an estimated $7 million to build, was presented to the public Tuesday night at a meeting at Colfax School. The project requires an environmental impact report, which will entail several formal public hearings, and it would take at least a year to build the first phase, said City Engineer Robert S. Horii.

A flyer sent to residents of the area listed three possible routes, all of which would run under residential streets near the junction of the Hollywood and Ventura freeways.

Horii said the expansion is needed to relieve North Hollywood sewers, which have become overburdened during the past few years as the city worked to switch industries and residences from septic tanks, many of which were polluting ground water. He said it would also provide additional capacity as the northeast San Fernando Valley grows.

Ammunition for Developers?

J. Sylvia Gross, who lives in the Blanchard Canyon area of Sunland-Tujunga, said Tuesday that she and her neighbors fear that the increased sewer capacity will provide ammunition for developers fighting slow-growth advocates.

“We fight very hard here to keep development down as much as we can,” said Gross, vice president and land-use chairman of the Sunland-Tujunga Assn. of Residents. “What we don’t want here is growth; we want to preserve our mountains.”

However, Horii said the city is merely trying to get a step ahead of development by expanding sewer capacity to meet growth projections already included in community plans. He said that if additional homes are never built, the sewer lines do not have to be used to capacity.

“It doesn’t cost that much more to put the line in a little bit larger to handle that growth,” Horii said. “But it would be expensive in the future if the growth does happen and we do not have the lines in. We would have to put in all new lines.”

Both Gross and Tom Patterson, a member of the Valley Village Homeowners Assn. in North Hollywood, complained that a flyer about the sewer expansion sent out by the Los Angeles Department of Public Works was vague. Gross said she did not realize until days after she received it that the project affected her area because the flyer only mentioned Sunland-Tujunga once.

“It shows connections but doesn’t show what it’s connecting to,” Patterson said. “There’s no supporting data, no cost data. It should’ve been more comprehensive.”

Avoid Disruption

Patterson said some traffic disruption could be avoided if the project were combined with light-rail plans and followed rail corridors. He said consideration of the project should be halted until a decision on light-rail routes is reached.

Patterson said he was particularly concerned about one of the three alternatives, which calls for part of the line to head down Colfax Avenue between Burbank Boulevard and Valley Spring Lane. The city recently repaved that stretch of Colfax.

“It shows a total lack of coordination among city agencies,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to tear up the street they just got done repaving.”

Horii said that although city agencies do try to communicate, sometimes things are overlooked. But he said the city might consider dropping the Colfax Avenue option if it believes that tearing up the street again would be too much of a burden for the neighborhood.