CHATSWORTH : Plans for Frontier Rail Depot Delayed

Plans for construction of a frontier-style railroad depot in Chatsworth were put on hold this week after the Metropolitan Transportation Authority was rebuffed by city zoning officials for failing to properly prepare its permit applications.

The MTA’s ill-preparedness “is kind of ridiculous,” conceded Desiree Portillo-Rabinov, the transportation agency’s project manager. “We had some of the documentation. We didn’t realize it was going to require a lot more than it did,” she said.

City Associate Zoning Administrator Albert Landini said the MTA’s application lacked sufficient detail about the precise square footage of the two buildings, hours of operation and detailed site maps depicting the placement of the buildings. He suggested that the MTA withdraw its application or face near-certain denial.

“They just don’t know what they really want,” he said.

The MTA and the city of Los Angeles are planning to build a $1.3-million station and child-care center at the site of the existing Metrolink commuter train platform at 21510 Devonshire St.

The project has been billed as a sort of town center for Chatsworth. Eventually, planners hope that the station will be flanked by restaurants, theaters and housing units. The two conditional-use permits for the station and the child-care center are the chief regulatory hurdles that must be cleared before the project can go forward.

Walter Prince, land-use chairman for the local homeowners group PRIDE was critical of the MTA’s lack of preparedness. Prince said it appeared that the MTA was adjusting plans for the site which had been drafted with the help of a community task force.

“They wasted 1,000 hours of community time and architectural time,” he alleged.

Portillo-Rabinov said the MTA is retaining an architectural firm that will draw up more precise plans for the project, and the agency will make a second try at obtaining conditional-use permits in about a month.