Putting Peace and Quiet in Jeopardy : A proposed LAPD academy would bring noise and traffic to a quiet Sylmar area. It can be located elsewhere.

I write in opposition to the proposed Los Angeles police academy on the Olive View East site in Sylmar.

Residents like the rural nature of our community. We live in a quiet neighborhood, free from traffic noise and loud construction--our nocturnal sounds are from night owls, raccoons and coyotes.

We do not want noise from early morning traffic, the shouts of recruits and drill instructors, or helicopters. Yet noise from the academy is expected to have a significant impact for up to 11,000 feet, and our homes are 200 feet from the boundary of the Olive View site. This is closer to a residential neighborhood than any other site being considered.

About 600 police recruits, training officers and academy support staff will create a minimum of 1,800 trips a day. There is a likelihood of nearly 3,000 trips a day with deliveries, and additional trips by recruits and officers to the driver training and shooting range facility.

An environmental impact statement predicts “an increase of approximately 30% in daily traffic.” We already have 650 trips a day on Tyler Street because of Olive View Hospital. That’s a lot for a residential street.

Because of the rural nature of our community, residents enjoy walking during the morning and evening hours, horseback riding, jogging and bicycle riding along Olive View Drive. Traffic during early evening hours is light and relatively safe for crossing Olive View Drive for access to trails.

If the police academy is operating from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m., as officials indicate, danger from traffic will significantly increase. The environmental impact report confirms our suspicions about this.

Special events at the existing police academy sometimes attract as many as 5,000 people. With parking at the Sylmar academy for only 600 automobiles, the rest will be forced to park in our residential neighborhoods.

These events will negatively affect our quality of life by increasing air pollution, noise and litter. They will restrict our access to streets and freeways and disrupt the neighborhood with traffic, parked cars and pedestrians.

Within 100 yards of the proposed Olive View site lies a sensitive ecological community of riparian habitats, unique flora and an abundance of wildlife, including red-tailed hawks, eagles, quail, mountain lions and deer.

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The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, recognizing the need to preserve this parcel of land, has made an offer to purchase it. The academy would endanger this fragile system with daily jogging and exercise programs.

Constructing the police academy on the Olive View East site is inconsistent with current A1 zoning and is incompatible with the adjacent residential neighborhood. As the environmental impact report notes, several buildings and a 60-foot microwave tower “would be located on higher plateau and may appear visually dominating and intrusive.”

A better site would be the Old Franciscan Pottery site in Atwater Village. It has strong local and political support. It is centrally located in the city of Los Angeles and is in an industrial-commercial area, away from homes. There is no need to disrupt a quiet residential neighborhood when an alternative location is available.