L.A. Council Approves Talks to Buy Land for Rail Line : Chatsworth: City officials will negotiate with the county on sharing the costs.

Los Angeles city lawmakers took three steps Wednesday to lay the groundwork for a commuter rail system for the San Fernando Valley, including authorizing purchase of nearly three miles of railroad right of way.

By a 13-0 vote, the City Council authorized city officials to negotiate an agreement with the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission to share the cost of buying a 2.75-mile stretch of Southern Pacific right of way alongside Canoga Avenue in Chatsworth.

The right of way can serve as a rail or other mass transit route linking the proposed Chatsworth commuter rail station, on a 13-acre site near Canoga Avenue between Lassen and Devonshire streets, to Warner Center, city transportation officials have said.

The council directed the negotiators to spend no more than $5.75 million on the purchase. The Transportation Commission has said the property will cost $23 million.

In a second action, the council voted 13 to 0 to spend $700,000 of its own transit money to speed construction of driveways into the proposed station and its 500-space parking lot.

The city normally would wait for state funds to pay for the driveway work, but it cannot expect to get the money in time to complete the work by October, when the commuter rail line is scheduled to open. So it is spending its own money now and will seek reimbursement from the state later, said James Okazaki of the city’s Department of Transportation.

The driveways will connect the station to Lassen Avenue to the south and to Devonshire Street to the north.

The Chatsworth Station is part of a commuter rail line going from downtown Los Angeles to Simi Valley. The station site is already jointly owned by the city and LACTC.

In a third action, the council’s Transportation Committee voted 2 to 0 to appropriate $2.7 million to buy a 5.8-acre site between Sayre and Hubbard streets in Sylmar for a rail station along the proposed commuter line between downtown and the Santa Clarita Valley.

The money will also be sufficient to pay for a station shelter, platform and a 500-space parking lot.