Robbins Alters Bill to Clarify Monorail Point

State Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana) said Friday that he has amended a San Fernando Valley rail bill he authored in the Legislature to make clear that the measure does not preclude construction of a monorail along the Ventura Freeway--a plan approved by 48% of Valley voters in an advisory referendum Tuesday.

Robbins said that the bill “never did preclude monorail along the freeway, but I don’t want the bill vetoed or opposed because some might misunderstand that.”

The bill, which has been approved by the Assembly and is pending in the Senate, requires that any line built along the Southern Pacific railroad’s Burbank Branch right of way be built at least 25 feet underground between the Hollywood Freeway and Hazeltine Avenue.

The legislation was introduced to allay the fears of homeowners along the right of way in North Hollywood and Van Nuys who say that ground-level or elevated trains would be noisy and unsightly in their single-family neighborhoods.

In Tuesday’s referendum, only 10% of voters supported a plan approved by the County Transportation Commission in March to extend the downtown-to-North Hollywood Metro Rail subway 5.6 miles westward to the San Diego Freeway along the little-used freight right of way.

A proposed light-rail line in a shallow trench along the same right of way drew 21% of those voting and another 21% voted for no rail line at all.

Rosa Kortizya, deputy for Supervisor Mike Antonovich, the chief monorail proponent, said the supervisor did not object to Robbins’ original bill but “obviously, we would welcome the clarification.”