Legislature OKs Bill Requiring Rail Line to Be Underground Near Valley Houses

The state Assembly and Senate on Thursday overwhelmingly approved and sent to the governor a bill that requires that any rail line built in residential neighborhoods of North Hollywood and Van Nuys be underground.

The once-controversial bill, introduced to allay homeowner fears about noise from ground-level trains near their houses, was approved 56 to 5 in the Assembly and 39 to 0 in the state Senate.

The measure would not affect the prospects for construction of an elevated monorail line along the Ventura Freeway--a plan that got a strong boost from voters in a June 5 advisory referendum.

The bill requires that any line constructed along the Southern Pacific railroad’s Burbank Branch right of way, which crosses the San Fernando Valley parallel to Chandler Boulevard, Oxnard Street and Victory Boulevard, be at least 25 feet underground between the Hollywood Freeway and Hazeltine Avenue.

In March, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission voted to build a 5.6-mile westward extension of the downtown-to-North Hollywood Metro Rail subway along the right of way.

The $1.1-billion extension, scheduled for completion in 2001, would end at a bus and rail terminal east of the San Diego Freeway, a few blocks south of Victory Boulevard.

State Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana), sponsor of the subway-only bill, said that the measure “has gradually become non-controversial as people understand that it merely affirms a subway decision made locally, rather than tries to dictate the choice of rail line from Sacramento.”

If Gov. George Deukmejian signs it into law, Robbins said, “We will have gotten the people in these neighborhoods the protection they want and demand.”

However, the debate over Valley rail options appears to be far from over.

In the June 5 referendum, San Fernando Valley voters surprised local elected officials by strongly voting in favor of a monorail line along the freeway over two rival plans, both of which would use the Southern Pacific right of way.

Among elected officials, only Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich has advocated the 16.5-mile monorail system on pillars above the freeway shoulder from Universal City to Canoga Park.

Since the vote, Antonovich has said he will ask the commission to reconsider the monorail as an alternative to the Metro Rail extension, but will probably wait several months until the commission staff completes a financial study.

Despite the referendum’s outcome, the vast majority of elected officials have continued to support the Metro Rail extension, which shot to prominence last year when business leaders abandoned their fight for a light-rail line that would cross the entire Valley in favor of a subway that would only reach the San Diego Freeway.

In a compromise worked out by Robbins and Los Angeles Councilman Marvin Braude, most homeowner leaders and business representatives ended years of feuding and supported the Metro Rail extension.

Robbins said Thursday that he expects few if any desertions by elected officials or members of the coalition that supports the Metro Rail extension.

“You have to remember that the beauty of the subway plan is that it is the only plan that does not have overwhelming opposition,” he said. “If the monorail plan appears to be a serious contender, then you’ll hear a howl from homeowner groups along the freeway that will kill it.”