Decision on Academy Site Due Today

After sometimes heated testimony, the Los Angeles City Council delayed until today a decision on whether to locate the future Police Academy at a former electronics firm in Westchester instead of at a planned site in Sylmar.

While those backing purchase of the 13.8-acre Westchester site--formerly owned by Hewlett-Packard--hail it as an opportunity to save up to $50 million and speed plans to expand the Los Angeles Police Department, some council members said they needed more time to study the purchase proposal.

The Police Commission had been tentatively scheduled to vote this month or next month on whether to support the Sylmar project, which had been selected as the best site after a lengthy environmental review.

A request by Councilwoman Ruth Galanter to make a $14-million bid on the Westchester property was brought before the council Tuesday on a special emergency basis without the usual staff report or prior study by a council committee.

“I always get anxious when a $13-million or $14-million deal is brought up on a special” basis, said Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky, who heads the council’s finance committee.

Councilman Richard Alarcon echoed Yaroslavsky’s sentiments and said he was concerned that Galanter’s request for a $14-million bid was publicized in a newspaper article. He said he feared that the advance publicity could hurt the city’s negotiating strength.

“I’m really concerned about what we have done to our leveraging position,” he said.

The Westchester site, near the San Diego Freeway and Manchester Boulevard, includes a building formally occupied by the Hewlett-Packard electronics firm. The structure is large enough to house a new Police Department communications facility on its second floor. That would cut five years off the development of that facility, police officials said. Because the building can be used by the academy with few modifications, its purchase would shorten by 2 1/2 years the time needed to open a new academy, they said.

At the urging of Yaroslavsky, the council Tuesday halted further public discussion of the matter and voted to decide the issue behind closed doors. When the closed-door session had ended, Galanter said the final decision on whether to bid on the Westchester site had been delayed for a day to give police and city officials time to answer several questions raised by council members about the property and the project.

Considering the questions raised by some council members, Galanter said she is uncertain whether the entire council will agree today to bid on the property. She would not elaborate on those questions.

Nonetheless, the discussion of an alternate site sparked speculation on future use of the Sylmar property. The 26-acre lot is owned by Los Angeles County and is just east of the former Olive View Medical Center in Sylmar.

Only two years ago, the county was considering leasing property west of the medical center for a business park. But because of the slumping economy, that project has not moved ahead, said Les Detweiler, a management analyst for the county’s chief administrative office.

As for the proposed Police Academy site, Detweiler said the county will wait until the city makes a decision on the academy before the county considers what, if anything, should be done with the land.

If the city selects the Westchester site, he said county officials will study new uses for the Sylmar property. Detweiler provided no ideas for the land but said adjacent residents have asked for low-density housing on the lot.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy now is negotiating the purchase of 235 acres in the Wilson Canyon area above the medical center for use as parkland.

Carolyn Barr, a project analyst for the conservancy, said the Police Academy property might be suitable for a parking lot, information kiosk and restroom for the proposed parkland. But she said the conservancy has not yet analyzed the property and could not say for sure if it would work for those uses.