Sylmar Advisory Panel Begins Meetings on Community’s Future

The Sylmar Community Plan Advisory Committee held its first meeting Wednesday, beginning a three-year process of public hearings to determine the future character of the East Valley community.

Councilman Ernani Bernardi appointed the 15-member committee in July as the first step toward revising the community land-use plan approved by the city in 1974. The plan establishes guidelines for commercial, industrial and residential development in Sylmar, one of the city’s fastest-growing communities.

The committee members spent most of the first meeting listening to city planners explain technical aspects of drafting a community plan. But some committee members and city officials said the committee will probably spend much of its time debating the extent to which Sylmar should preserve its rural character.

“It’s one of the last areas the developers have discovered,” said David Mays, chief deputy to Bernardi. “The community is rightly concerned about how fast and how far they want this development to go.”

The committee members seemed to be about evenly divided on development issues.

Differing Views

“My intention is to keep Sylmar rural,” said Gwen Allen, former president of Equestrian Trails. “I don’t want to move out to the boonies to keep my horse. And I don’t want to live in wall-to-wall cement.”

Others, however, called for planned growth. “I love animals and I love horses but I also love cars,” said Ed Cholokian, a past president of the Sylmar Chamber of Commerce. “Everybody says ‘Let’s keep Sylmar rural,’ but let’s also keep it a place that can grow and prosper.”

Bernardi reminded the group that it would eventually have to reach a consensus. “I know that there are some fixed positions in the group, but you’re going to have to compromise. Otherwise you’ll be here until 1998.”

The Sylmar committee is the first of several to be established throughout Los Angeles. In 1988, the City Council adopted a resolution that established community advisory committees to revise the city’s 35 community land-use plans, most of which were drafted in the mid-1970s.

A community advisory committee will begin meeting in North Hollywood in early 1990 and another will begin meeting in the Arleta-Pacoima area in the middle of 1990, city officials said.

Lengthy Process

The Sylmar advisory committee is scheduled to hold 17 monthly public meetings. After the committee completes its draft plan, it will be reviewed by the General Plan Advisory Board, a panel consisting of the director of the Recreation and Parks Department, the city engineer, the fire chief and the directors of other city agencies.

The draft plan will be submitted to the director of planning, who can add his own recommendations and amendments. After the director of planning approves the draft plan, it will be submitted to the Planning Commission and then to the City Council for final approval.

Homeowners, Developers

The Sylmar community advisory committee includes landowners, developers and representatives of homeowner associations.

Bernardi appointed Raymond Magana, a Sylmar attorney, as interim chairman of the committee. Other members include Jerome Goodman, president of the Oak Ridge Mobile Home Residents Assn., Steve E. Anson, current president of the Sylmar Chamber of Commerce, and Linda Chambers, president of the Sylmar Landowners Assn.

Committee appointees Allen and Karen Duvall are both members of Sylmar equestrian groups. Betty Franklin is the only member who took part in an advisory committee that helped draft the last Sylmar community plan in 1974.

The other members are Margaret Whittington, Morris Wills, Dee Hansen, Charlotte Bedard, Clarence Broussard, Robert J. Rassmussen and Barbara Lindsey.