PANORAMA CITY : Homeowner Group Seeks to Delay Gym

Concerned that parking and security for a proposed gymnasium in Panorama City will be inadequate, a homeowners group plans to try to delay the project until an environmental impact study is done.

The case before the city Board of Zoning Appeals has already pitted members of the Panorama Park Homeowners Assn. against another community group and the city of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. The hearing will be held at 10:30 a.m. today at City Hall.

The department is trying to build a 10,700-square-foot gymnasium at the Sepulveda Recreation Center, 8825 Kester Ave.

Members of the homeowners association say they do not oppose the gym, just the parking problems it could create.

“As it is now, on weekends all the parking is loaded,” said Peter Goodman, who represents the Panorama Park Homeowners Assn. “People will park in our gateways and run across the street to the park.

“We’re also concerned about how they are prepared to light it and control it. I don’t hear anything about security.”

Goodman’s appeal to the zoning board opposes a variance that the city granted itself in April to allow the gymnasium to be built without additional parking. The $2.1-million project would include a full-sized basketball court, meeting rooms and offices. The 95 parking spaces would remain unchanged. Two outdoor basketball courts are now at the site.

At least one other community group does not believe that there is a need to delay the project with an environmental impact report.

“You certainly won’t increase the visiting, because you haven’t added a court. In fact you’ve taken one away,” said Tony Swan, president of the North Hills Community Coordinating Council. “There will be a parking problem, on weekends and on weekdays, irrespective of whether or not this will be built.”

A parks department official who asked not to be identified said the problem is not parking, but property values.

“The problem is there really is no parking problem,” the official said. “There are always spaces available on either side of the park. This is a ‘hoping everybody will disappear’ problem. Nobody can sell their condos across the street.”