Assembly Passes Bill Requiring Subway Extension to Stay Underground : Mass transit: The measure addresses noise concerns of North Hollywood and Van Nuys residents.

The Assembly gave final approval Wednesday to a bill that would require underground construction of any rail line built in residential neighborhoods of North Hollywood and Van Nuys.

The bill, which next goes to Gov. Pete Wilson, was introduced at the behest of homeowner groups living along a proposed rail route that parallels Chandler and Victory boulevards and Oxnard Street through the two communities.

The measure was approved 41 to 18, the minimum number of votes needed for passage. The Senate passed the bill by a vote of 21 to 7 in March.

A spokesman for Wilson said the governor has not taken a position on the bill.

The measure, introduced by state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana), is similar to one approved by the Legislature last year but vetoed by then-Gov. George Deukmejian because it dealt with a local issue that he said should not be decided in Sacramento.

Homeowners along the proposed rail route, which follows a section of Southern Pacific railroad’s right of way from Burbank to Warner Center, say the bill will allay their fears about noise from ground-level or elevated trains along the proposed route.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission has tentatively voted to extend the downtown-to-North Hollywood Metro Rail subway westward along the right of way to the San Diego Freeway. Construction is scheduled to begin in 1995 and be completed in 2001.

Homeowner leaders say that without Robbins’ bill, the commission might be tempted to cut costs by building the line at ground-level in their neighborhoods.

A rival rail plan, still under commission consideration despite the tentative approval last year of the Chandler-Victory Metro Rail extension, is construction of an elevated monorail or magnetic-levitation line along the Ventura Freeway from Universal City to Warner Center.

“This bill will have no effect on the monorail plan, which will rise or fall of its own merits,” Robbins said. “My goal here was to get protection for East Valley homeowners who worry that promises made today might not be kept.”

Before choosing between the two plans, the commission is waiting to see the results of its invitation to private firms to submit proposals to build rail lines for profit.

In a brief debate in the Assembly on Wednesday, several legislators complained that they should not be asked to vote on a bill that deals with local concerns.

Several also complained that building a costly subway in the San Fernando Valley could deprive other parts of the county of rail funds.

A consultant recently said a 14-mile North Hollywood-to-Warner Center Metro Rail extension would cost $3 billion, whereas the 16.2-mile monorail or mag-lev line along the freeway would cost $2.2 billion.

The first phase of the proposed Metro Rail extension--from North Hollywood to the San Diego Freeway--would cost $1.3 billion, whereas a freeway elevated line from Universal City to the San Diego Freeway would cost $1 billion, according to the Gruen Associates report.