Panel Opposes Bill That Would Block Monorail : Transit: Officials say the law would limit county options for expanding the Metro Rail. But homeowner groups favor an underground line.

The Los Angeles County Transportation Commission voted unanimously Wednesday to oppose state legislation that would preclude the county from building an above-ground monorail in the San Fernando Valley along the Ventura Freeway.

The bill, drafted by state Sen. Herschel Rosenthal (D-Los Angeles), is scheduled to be heard by the Senate Transportation Committee in April. It mirrors a bill adopted last year that requires any mass-transit rail line through residential areas of North Hollywood and Van Nuys to be built underground.

Homeowner groups along the freeway route say they support Rosenthal’s bill because an underground rail would generate less noise and reduce visual blight in their neighborhoods.

“There is no way to mitigate an elevated train running through your back yard,” said Gerald Silver, chairman of the Coalition of Freeway Residents, which represents five homeowner groups along the proposed route.

The Ventura Freeway monorail line would run along the freeway’s southern shoulder from the planned Universal City Metro Rail subway station to Warner Center in Woodland Hills. It is a rival plan to a proposed route that parallels Chandler and Victory boulevards through North Hollywood and Van Nuys. The County Transportation Commission is expected to decide in the next few months which of the two lines to build.

County transportation officials said commissioners opposed the Rosenthal bill Wednesday because it would usurp the county’s authority and limit its options for expanding the Metro Rail system.

Rosenthal could not be reached for comment.

The previous bill that precluded an above-ground or ground-level rail line was drafted by former state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana) and signed by Gov. Pete Wilson. It applies only to the proposed Chandler-Victory route. Robbins submitted a similar bill in 1990, but it was vetoed by then Gov. George Deukmejian.

Both the Rosenthal and the Robbins legislation were designed to allay the fears of residents along the proposed routes who worried that ground-level or elevated trains would be noisy and unsightly.

While the commission has, in essence, endorsed the Chandler-Victory route, it has ordered further studies to compare the benefits and costs of building an above-ground monorail or magnetic levitation line.

A spokeswoman for Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, the chief proponent of the above-ground line, said the supervisor agrees with the commission’s vote on Rosenthal’s bill.

Rosa Kortizija, an Antonovich aide, said the supervisor supports the above-ground option because it would be cheaper, take less time to build and have less of an effect on adjoining neighborhoods during construction.

Proponents say the monorail option would be cheaper to build because it would not require the expensive and time-consuming tunneling work required for a subway-type line. A 14-mile North Hollywood-to-Warner Center underground Metro Rail extension would cost $3 billion, whereas the 16.2-mile monorail or magnetic levitation line along the freeway would cost $2.2 billion, according to estimates by a consultant.

As for noise concerns, Kortizija said there are several monorail lines operating throughout the world--including one at Florida’s Disney World--that use rubber wheels on concrete rails and generate little noise.

While Rosenthal’s bill has the support of some vocal homeowner groups, Kortizija said nearly 50% of Valley voters responding to an advisory referendum two years ago supported the construction of a monorail along the freeway.

Richard Close, president of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn., said his group urged Rosenthal to author the bill to protect residents in the same way that Robbins’ bill protected residents along the Chandler-Victory route.

“Our opinion is that a Metro Rail above ground will be disastrous environmentally and economically to the communities that border the freeway,” said Close, whose group represents about 1,400 families.

He said an above-ground line would hurt property values, generate noise, attract traffic and cause parking problems.

“The issue is not what is the cheapest,” he said. “The question is what route will disrupt the least amount of people and what route will be used by the most people.”