Council Panel OKs Phoenix House Drug Abuse Center : Lake View Terrace: The committee eases security and other requirements despite neighbors’ concerns about crime.

A Los Angeles City Council committee Tuesday approved establishment of the Phoenix House drug-abuse treatment center in Lake View Terrace, lifting requirements for round-the-clock security guards and other conditions imposed earlier at the demand of neighbors worried that youths will get loose and commit crimes.

The 150-bed facility for teen-agers must still be approved by the City Council, which is scheduled to consider the matter next Wednesday.

But the recommendation by the Planning and Land Use Management Committee was a blow to opponents of the project, who had hoped the panel would either reject it outright or at least uphold restrictions imposed by zoning officials in March.

Instead, the committee voted 2 to 1 to grant a permit to the nonprofit Phoenix House center and private high school, eliminating conditions requiring 24-hour security guards, an eight-foot-high wrought-iron fence and a cap on the number of youths referred there by the courts. Phoenix House administrators argued that the security measures would destroy the therapeutic atmosphere they try to create.

“I definitely don’t want it to look like a prison,” agreed Councilman Hal Bernson, who joined Councilwoman Ruth Galanter in approving the project. “There should be one of these in every district--I’d be willing to take one in mine.”

But noting that most schools in the city are now fenced off, Bernson said the center should erect a 5 1/2-foot-high fence to keep unwanted outsiders off the 15-acre premises on Eldridge Avenue.

Councilman Nate Holden voted against the project, siding with neighbors who expressed concern about increased crime and loss of privacy in the neighborhood of single-family houses.

“Your program for the most part is good, but the question is: Is this where we should have it?” Holden told Phoenix House representatives. “If one person goes astray, then it’s not good for the neighborhood.”

Once solidly opposed to the project when it was first proposed, local residents are now divided over the issue. Phoenix House initially applied for a conditional use permit in 1988 but dropped the request when former First Lady Nancy Reagan, a fund-raising supporter, withdrew her backing because of widespread neighborhood opposition.

Phoenix House renewed its request and purchased the property for $3.2 million last year, after the hospital that owned it went bankrupt and dropped the initial asking price by more than $5 million.

Members of one group, the Lake View Terrace Improvement Assn., testified Tuesday against the project.

“It’s always touchy when you talk about drug rehabilitation centers because they are needed so much,” said Sandy Hubbard, co-president of the group opposing the project. “But the city has the responsibility to preserve the character of neighborhoods also.”

Among those testifying against the project was Richard Alarcon, the self-declared winner of the race to represent the 7th City Council District, which includes the proposed project. About 600 absentee ballots are still being counted in the race.

“Lake View Terrace has too many facilities like this, including more than 40 board and care homes and a landfill,” Alarcon said.

Members of another residents group, the Lake View Terrace Home Owners Assn., spoke in support of the project. The committee also heard moving testimony in favor of the program from a former drug addict and prostitute who is enrolled in the Phoenix House program in Orange County.

She objected to flyers circulated by opponents of the project that asked, “Isn’t one toxic landfill enough? Why must we defend ourselves against more garbage in our backyards?”

“We are not garbage,” the woman replied.