Hansen Dam Restoration Delay Called Minor Barrier : Redevelopment: A federal proposal outlining work will be unveiled five months late. Community leaders are disappointed but remain optimistic that the dam will be rebuilt as a major recreation area.

A document that is a key step toward restoration of a swimming and boating lake at Hansen Dam will be delivered five months late, pushing the lake’s opening day to the summer of 1992 at the earliest, federal officials reported last week.

Nonetheless, federal planners and community leaders are more optimistic than ever that the long-awaited project will be built.

Last year, after several setbacks, state and federal officials allocated more than $1.2 million to rebuild the northeast San Fernando Valley lake and other recreational facilities that were destroyed by flooding and fire. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said a draft plan for the 1,540-acre site would be finished by November.

But last week, citing delays in its environmental impact review, the Corps said the Hansen Dam draft proposal will be unveiled in April. Nevertheless, Raina Fulton, Hansen Dam project leader for the Corps, said restoration remains on track.

“I’m optimistic,” Fulton said. “There’s funding, and the planning process is under way. That’s more than we’ve been able to say for a long time.”

Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City), a leading proponent of the project, said he was disappointed that the master plan had not been completed.

“All of us have waited many years to see Hansen Dam restored as a premier recreation area for the San Fernando Valley,” Berman said. “Three more months will disappoint us but not discourage us. It’s an eyesore now. It is adjacent to a terribly under-served part of Los Angeles, and I think there’s a lot we can do with it.”

The document to be released in April is expected to show the approximate location of the lake. It also will designate sections of the basin for so-called high- and low-intensity activities. Spectator sports are considered high intensity; picnic areas and hiking trails are low intensity.

Some community leaders have expressed impatience over the Corps’ pace at Hansen Dam.

“Whenever there’s something to be torn down, they’re right there with a bulldozer to do it right away,” said Lewis Snow, president of the Lake View Home Owners Assn. “When there’s something to be accomplished or constructed, it takes forever.”

As a member of Berman’s Hansen Dam advisory committee, Snow took part in meetings last year in which the Corps’ staff outlined development options for the basin. Though he is impatient, Snow said, he knows why federal planners are moving cautiously.

“The Army Corps is being very careful on this,” Snow said. “They don’t want to do anything that’s going to be lost in the next flood. I can understand why they’re walking on eggs. We’re looking forward to seeing what the Army Corps comes up with.”

The Corps will seek comments on the plan at public meetings in May or June before a final report is sent to Corps officials in San Francisco. Optimistically, Fulton said, the agency hopes to award a construction contract in late summer of 1991, with the first new Hansen Dam recreational facilities ready in the summer of 1992.

The scope of the project, including the size of the lake, depends on how far the funding will stretch, Fulton said. Last year, Congress allocated $780,000 to the project, and the state Legislature provided $475,000. The current planning work is financed by $200,000 in federal funding approved a year earlier. A continuing sand and gravel dredging contract at the dam is expected to generate more money for the project.

Berman said he wants some of the fees generated by a proposed city-county landfill at Elsmere Canyon to be used for Hansen Dam recreation improvements.

When the Corps met last year with community leaders, Fulton said, “The overriding request was that they wanted a lake. After that, they’re interested in equestrian trails, parkland, wildlife areas and picnicking.”

The northeast Valley is home to many horse owners, and equestrians say new loop trails and rest stops are needed. “I’ve been out at the dam when there have been 200 people out on horseback,” said Gini Barrett, a Valley Horse Owners Assn. board member who serves on the dam’s advisory panel.

Residents appear to favor swimming, fishing, rowing, sailing and canoeing at one or possibly two connected lakes. But the prospect of noisier aquatic recreation has generated debate. “We have never supported motorboats,” said Phyllis Hines, land-use co-chairman for the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn.

Betty Rockwell, who serves on the association board and on the dam’s advisory panel, said some committee members “had lived here when there were motorboats, and they didn’t appreciate the noise. We consider ourselves semi-rural. But some other people think we should go all the way and have motorboats and water-skiing.”

The Corps’ draft plan will include recommendations on the scope of activities that should be allowed at the lake. That issue must also be reviewed by the city’s Recreation and Parks Department, which will administer the area. The federal government leases 1,450 acres at Hansen Dam to the city; of that, 660 acres have already been developed.

The dam and basin area were built 50 years ago to control flooding and collect silt. Its original 130-acre lake opened in 1949, providing a beach, boat ramp and picnic area. But flooding in 1969 engulfed the area in debris and silt. A 1975 fire and heavy rains in 1981 and 1982 did additional damage.

Early attempts to restore the area failed because of a lack of funds and other problems. Residents believe that the project now has a better chance at success.

Improvement association activist Hines said, “I have the most hope I’ve ever had.”

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