Study Urged to Decide Fate of Building : Pacoima: A council panel endorses a $100,000 report to determine if the Boys & Girls Club should be repaired or rebuilt.

A plan to spend up to $100,000 on a study to determine if the structurally defective Boys & Girls Club building in Pacoima can be repaired or must be demolished and rebuilt won key backing Wednesday at Los Angeles City Hall.

The chairman of the council’s Community and Economic Development Committee, Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, endorsed the proposal for a study that was presented to his panel Wednesday.

The structure was built in 1986 for $1.4 million, including nearly $950,000 in city grants to the Boys & Girls Club of the San Fernando Valley, a nonprofit social service agency.

The city owns the building, which it leases to the club. Hundreds of young people take part in the club’s athletic and educational programs each week.

In 1987, shortly after the 24,500-square-foot club opened, defects in the building became apparent. Floors buckled and holes opened in the walls.

The club hired an engineer who concluded that it would be more costly to repair the defects than to tear down the structure and build anew. But city building inspectors believe the structure can be repaired for less than the cost of new construction.

Inspectors from the city’s Bureau of Engineering also have declared that the defects are “not of a magnitude that would subject the building to any imminent danger of collapse.”

The city needs a study--which will cost $100,000--of the defects, the amount of remedial work needed or the cost of rebuilding, according to a report prepared by the council’s chief legislative analyst. It was this report that was approved Wednesday by Ridley-Thomas.

Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who represents Pacoima and first proposed the study, said the city needs its own independent assessment.

“The only one who has done an estimate of the problem is the engineer for the club,” Bernardi said. “We need to see for ourselves.”

The club’s management previously won support from Mayor Tom Bradley and Bernardi for a campaign to raise private donations to rebuild the facility. But Bernardi said he now wants more proof that a new building is needed.

The club has sued firms involved in the construction. To date, the club has received $550,000 in settlement payments from the contractor and several other defendants. It is still suing other parties for $1 million.