DWP Drops Plan for New Plant in Arleta : Energy: The decision to modify two existing stations caps an 18-month battle with residents who feared for their health and property values.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has abandoned plans to build a new electric distributing station in Arleta and will instead modify two existing stations to serve the area, utility officials said Wednesday.

The announcement caps an 18-month battle over the station, which was opposed by many Arleta residents due to concern about property values and possible health effects from electromagnetic fields.

The decision followed the failure of a joint community-DWP committee to find a mutually acceptable site for the station. The utility convened the committee in November and hired a consensus planning firm to guide its meetings after an initial site in the 13200 block of Branford Street met with fierce opposition.

It became clear that there was no site supported by community leaders “that we think we can build on, and any site that they arrived at that they felt that we should build on . . . was not desirable from the standpoint of distance and reliability of service,” said Joe Thompson, DWP executive engineer for the power system.

He said modifying the two distributing stations in Mission Hills and Panorama City will cost about $4.2 million--a nearly $5-million savings from the $9-million cost of a new distributing station. Thompson said the new station would have assured adequate service for 30 years, whereas the modifications will meet the need for a maximum of 10 to 12 years.

He said the decision also reflects budget constraints and efforts by the utility to pare spending.

John Maxon, president of the Arleta Chamber of Commerce and Residents Assn. and a member of the community committee, said he was pleased by the decision.

Thompson acknowledged that the DWP had had trouble balancing “the community needs with the business needs of the utility.”

Now, however, “it’s a win-win situation,” he said. The dialogue with residents “at times . . . was painful, but right now I feel very good about it.”

Citywide, there are about 130 distributing stations, which transform high-voltage current into lower-voltage power for use by nearby houses and businesses.

The Arleta controversy began in 1990 as a zoning dispute, with residents worried that the station would lower property values and bring commercial development to a neighborhood of small, neatly kept homes on Branford Street. However, neighbors also raised concerns about potential health risks from electromagnetic fields, invisible lines of force that radiate outward from any equipment or device that carries electric current.

A number of studies have found small increases in cancer among children living near high-current power lines and among workers in electrical occupations, such as utility linemen and film projectionists. A smaller number of studies have shown no association, and scientists generally say a causal link between electromagnetic fields and cancer has not been proven.

In August, 1990, the DWP purchased an option on two adjoining homes on Branford Street and planned to tear them down to build the distributing station before angry neighbors complained.

Last spring, DWP officials agreed to conduct a full environmental review of the project, as residents had demanded, after initially refusing to do so.

They also formed the advisory committee and agreed to remove the Branford site from consideration.

Thompson said distributing stations in the 14600 block of Nordhoff Street and the 10600 block of Lemona Avenue will be modified to increase their capacities to carry current by about 60% and 50% respectively.

At the Nordhoff Street station, the six existing transformers will be replaced by four more compact and efficient ones. At Lemona Avenue, another transformer will be added.

Electromagnetic fields fall off sharply with distance from the source, and Thompson said the new equipment will not result in field strengths being higher beyond the station sites.

Thompson also said he does not expect that permits or environmental studies will be required for the modifications, which are scheduled for completion by April, 1994.