Supervisors Agree to Consider Alternative Site for Courthouse

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, faced with busloads of angry homeowners, agreed Tuesday to consider another site for the courthouse that the county planned to build in Chatsworth, despite previous rejection of the alternative site.

By a unanimous vote, the board postponed a decision on the site at Plummer Street and Winnetka Avenue, which is strongly supported by court officials, and instructed county real estate experts to inquire about an alternative Chatsworth location backed by the homeowners, Supervisor Mike Antonovich and Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson.

The county staff was asked to report back in a week on the availability and price of the alternative site at Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Marilla Street, about two miles to the west.

About 150 angry homeowners chartered school buses to attend Tuesday’s board meeting and urge the supervisors to reject the Plummer-Winnetka site.

But Municipal Court Administrator Edward M. Kritzman told the supervisors that that was the only practical location for the three-story courthouse. The parcel is large enough to accommodate a courthouse and parking, is well located and would blend into an area already dotted with light industrial and commercial buildings, he said.

Kritzman said the property favored by Antonovich would cost taxpayers millions of dollars more. The lumberyard on the property would have to be dismantled, and the county would have to construct an $8-million parking garage because the site is too small for surface parking, he said.

County real estate experts earlier considered and rejected the Topanga Canyon Boulevard site, along with other locations in the west San Fernando Valley.

But Antonovich contended that the Topanga Canyon property would be more economical because it would cost less than the property on Plummer. The Plummer parcel, he added, is unacceptable because the community opposes it.

“Being a good neighbor makes better sense than jamming down the throats of a community a courthouse,” Antonovich said.

Neighbors said the courthouse would increase traffic, clog their streets with parked cars and reduce the value of nearby houses.

“I would not buy a house in any area where there is a courthouse,” said Myrna Lightstone, a real estate broker. “Chatsworth is a very quiet neighborhood. I want to see Chatsworth stay a very quiet neighborhood.”

Kritzman said neighbors, who have obtained about 1,000 signatures on petitions opposing the project, are angry because they mistakenly believe that a jail will be in the building. He said this is the first time that a community has opposed the construction of a municipal courthouse.

Board members gave the residents no indication how they would resolve the issue.

But Supervisor Pete Schabarum, who grilled both sides rigorously, said: “Every other week we’re sitting around here listening to people who don’t want something in their back yards.”