Sylmar Led L.A. Growth in the 1980s : Population: Statistics show that the once-rural community grew 30.7%. Neighboring Arleta was ranked third in the city at 18.7%.

Sylmar--once viewed as the quiet, rural outback of Los Angeles--was the fastest-growing community in the city during the 1980s, with a 30.7% population increase for the decade and an almost equal growth rate in housing construction, according to city figures released Wednesday.

The community has topped the city’s population growth every year since 1982. Its population surged from 41,922 in 1980 to 54,779 in 1989, city planners said.

San Pedro, which experienced a development boom in private and military housing in the mid-1980s, was the second fastest growing area in Los Angeles in the decade just ended, with a 21.7% population increase. Arleta, which is next to Sylmar, ranked third with an 18.7% growth rate, city planning statistics showed.

The population of the San Fernando Valley portion of Los Angeles grew 12.2% from 1980 to 1989, rising from 1,017,365 people to 1,142,447.

The overall population of Los Angeles grew 11.6% between 1980 and 1989 to more than 3.3 million people, according to the estimates. The figures, released by the city Planning Department, are based on census data, statistics from the city’s Building and Safety Department and utility bills.

The San Fernando Valley was the scene of the biggest housing boom in the city in the last decade with a 14.8% increase to 58,915 new dwelling units. Planners said 48% of all new housing in the city was built in the Valley, which is home to about a third of the city’s population.

The accelerated population growth in the northeast Valley, which includes Sylmar and Arleta, was spurred by the completion of the Foothill Freeway in 1981 and the availability of large swaths of undeveloped land. Almost overnight a remote section of the city became easily accessible by freeway.

Apartments and condominiums now flank Sylmar’s busy Foothill Boulevard, once a two-lane road bordered by sprawling ranch houses and stables. Spacious tract homes have crept into the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains.

The population boom has prompted a series of interim development control measures in Sylmar, which is the first of the city’s 35 planning areas to undergo general plan revisions to draft new growth control regulations.

“When you look at the city as a whole, population has increased at a strong, healthy rate,” said City Planner Jeffrey Beckerman. “But certain areas individually have grown much faster than others.”

The three most crowded areas of Los Angeles are the Westlake, Wilshire and South-Central districts with an average of 47, 28 and 23 people respectively living on one acre of land. By contrast, there is plenty of elbow room in Bel-Air and Brentwood, where an average of only two residents share one acre of land, and Sunland, where there are three people per acre.

The most densely populated Valley communities are North Hollywood with 15 residents per acre, followed by Van Nuys with 14. After Sunland, residents in Sun Valley and Porter Ranch have the most space, with five residents per acre.

L.A. AREA POPULATION GROWTH

April 1, 1980 to October 1, 1989 SYLMAR: 30.7 SAN PEDRO: 21.7 ARLETA: 18.7 HBR GATEWAY: 17.7 SUNLAND: 17.3 NORTHEAST LA: 16.2 CHATSWORTH: 16.2 WESTWOOD: 15.9 N&E; CENTRAL: 14.3 SILVERLAKE: 13.9 HOLLYWOOD: 13.6 WILMINGTON: 13.5 WILSHIRE: 12.7 MISSION HILLS: 12.7 NORTHRIDGE: 12.2 CANOGA PARK: 11.9 NO HOLLYWOOD: 11.9 SHERMAN OAKS: 11.3 VAN NUYS: 11.1 WESTCHESTER: 11.0 SOUTHEAST LA: 10.5 BOYLE HEIGHTS: 9.9 SUN VALLEY: 9.1 WEST LA: 8.3 WEST ADAMS: 8.3 WESTLAKE: 7.8 SO CENTRAL LA: 7.8 BEL AIR: 7.5 VENICE: 7.4 PALMS: 6.7 RESEDA: 6.3 GRANADA HILLS: 6.0 ENCINO: 5.3 BRENTWOOD: 4.8 CENTRAL CITY: 1.7