CHATSWORTH : Bid Requests OKd for Metrolink Projects

The first step toward construction of a historic train depot and child-care center on the site of the Chatsworth Metrolink station was taken this week, when the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board of directors approved requests for bids on the two projects, totaling nearly $1.3 million.

The 13-member board’s unanimous vote launched the first stage of what officials hope will eventually be a kind of town center for Chatsworth on the station site at 21510 Devonshire St., which is now little more than a platform and canopies, said MTA project manager Desiree Portillo-Rabinov.

Besides the depot and child-care center, parts of the 13-acre station site may eventually be turned over to a variety of private developers, said Stanley Arnold, chairman of the Chatsworth Chamber Transportation Committee, an advisory body to the MTA.

In 10 years, Arnold said, “we will have living space and commercial space, and a place for a library, a post office, restaurants, a park and theaters.”

The platform at the Chatsworth station opened last October when the first Metrolink commuter trains hit the tracks. The station is among the first of a planned mosaic of 60 stations throughout the city that will eventually connect the proposed 400-mile Metrolink commuter train system.

Portillo-Rabinov said the 6,500-square-foot train depot will be built in a design similar to the original 1890s-era station that once stood on the site. The 5,850-square-foot child-care center will have room for 90 children, and will include an outdoor play area.

Driving a child to and from day-care centers is one reason why many working parents don’t use public transportation, she said.

Combining the depot with a child-care center, contracted out to a licensed provider, will make it easier for these parents to use Metrolink, she said.

The child-care center will be open to everyone, but parents taking the train, bus or local shuttle services will be first on the list, she said.