Sylmar Homeowners Draft Growth Plan to Guard Rural Character

Leaders of a Sylmar property owners group said Saturday that they are formulating an area plan to ensure that future development does not damage the rural character of the community.

The proposal by the 429-member Sylmar Landowners Assn. for Fair Development would require that new buildings use architectural styles and colors that blend with the surrounding mountains, and includes plans to bring light-rail service into the area and build a privately funded equestrian center at Stetson Ranch.

The plan also calls for the expansion of industries and businesses that would make the foothill community more self-sufficient.

Specific details of the plan, which group leaders describe as preliminary, were being revised Saturday during a daylong meeting. The organization’s president, Linda Chambers, said the final plan will be presented to Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who represents Sylmar, and city planning officials within two weeks.

“We’re not experts on planning or development, but we have an advantage in knowing what’s good for the community,” said Chambers, who has lived in Sylmar for 14 years.

“We have driven down each and every street, and we know what would be good for that street,” she said. “We have valid proposals that should be considered.”

Chambers added that the group is not anti-development. “If something is built well and with care, then it can only help property values,” she said. “But we don’t want large projects squeezed on small parcels. We don’t want a hodgepodge. We want uniformity of development.”

Sylmar, nestled along the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains within the northeastern border of Los Angeles, is one of the city’s rural outposts. Numerous residents raise horses, sheep and chickens.

The area became the fastest-growing community of the city between 1980 and 1986, with a 27% increase in population from 41,922 to 53,392, according to the Los Angeles Planning Department.

Most of that growth took place between 1984 and 1986, when the population soared 3,000 above the 1977 estimate of the figure for 1990, officials said.

Chambers said the group is not concerned with overdevelopment. The plan says new single-family homes and apartment complexes should be built to accommodate the new growth, she said.

But Chambers added that growth of the community should be planned so that the rural character is not lost.

Extensive buffering between residential neighborhoods and industrial areas should be done with trees, open space and walls, the plan says. All apartment and condominium complexes should contain large areas of open space and greenery.

To make the community more self-sufficient, the plan calls for bringing in service businesses, such as electrical and welding firms, so that residents would not have to travel long distances to reach them.

The group proposed that such businesses could be located along the predominantly industrial corridor of Roxford Street.

“If we can have businesses to service ourselves, we could ease the gridlock on the already crowded freeways,” Chambers said.

The group applauded the possibility of light-rail service in the area. The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission on Wednesday voted to study speeding up construction of a light-rail line linking Los Angeles International Airport and Sylmar.

But Chambers said the line should extend into Canyon Country. “That is a growing area, and all those cars are going to come through Sylmar on their way to and from Canyon Country,” she said. “We need more rapid transit.”

Another aspect of the plan deals with establishment of a satellite sewage-treatment plant. Such a plant would help lift some of the burden from Los Angeles’ troubled sewer system, which is nearing capacity.

The group said they wanted the equestrian center built at Stetson Ranch, which is presently open space, by a private organization.