Rail Station Move Called Too Costly : Transit: County report says MCA’s request to relocate site closer to CityWalk could increase project price $41 million.

Los Angeles County transportation planners said Friday that it would be too expensive and time-consuming to grant a request by MCA, the entertainment giant, to move the site of a Metro Rail station onto Universal Studios to better serve the company’s popular CityWalk attraction.

Moving the subway station onto the studio grounds would increase the $420-million construction bill by as much as $41 million and cause a 21-month delay, according to the report by the staff of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The scheduled July, 2000, station opening would be delayed until April, 2002, if the station is relocated from its proposed site on Lankershim Boulevard near Ventura Boulevard to a location beneath the Hollywood Freeway near Cahuenga Boulevard, according to the MTA report.

And because the MTA faces a projected $126-million deficit next year, the staff report recommended that the relocation plan be rejected unless new construction funding is found.

“Because of the financial shortfall facing the MTA at this time . . . staff cannot recommend the diversion of funds from other rail capital and operating budgets to fund the relocation of the Universal City station,” according to the report by David Mieger, MTA project manager for the San Fernando Valley.

A preliminary study of the relocation plan released last month estimated that it would increase construction costs by $72 million and delay the opening by up to three years. Since then, MCA and county transportation officials have worked together and with outside consultants to come up with more accurate figures.

An MTA committee is scheduled to discuss the report Thursday.

Since August, MCA has been pressing transportation officials to relocate the station to better serve patrons of the amusement park. And MCA has hinted that if the station is not moved, it will withhold $6 million in property assessment fees--which the company is legally entitled to do.

MCA officials have insisted that the relocation would not increase the cost of the station because the new location would eliminate the need to buy private land for station parking.

They also argued that the new location may increase ridership by 27%--or 4,250 riders--on a typical day, and 78%--or 12,000 riders--on peak summer days, bringing in more fare money for the MTA.

Although MCA representatives still do not agree with the county’s new estimates, they now agree that the move will increase the station’s cost and delay the project.

MCA spokeswoman Christine Hanson said her company’s consultants believe the move will increase construction costs by about $21 million and delay the project by 15 months.

Nonetheless, she said MCA still supports the move and is willing to work with transportation officials to find new funding sources to make the move affordable for the county.

“MCA is planning to work to further close these gaps,” she said.

She said MCA and county transportation officials agree that the move has its benefits, such as the possibility of increasing ridership and eliminating the need to buy the homes of about 200 residents to make way for parking space.

Another advocate of the relocation is Ronni Rice, a representative of about 60 condominium owners who live near the site of the proposed Lankershim Boulevard station and fear the impending construction noise and dust.

Despite the cost increase and construction delay, Rice said the condo owners at Universal Park and Terrace on the Park want the county to continue studying the relocation plan.

“The people want to see the station relocation because it makes more sense,” she said.

But county Supervisor Yvonne Braithwaite Burke, a member of the MTA, said she would not support the relocation unless MCA is willing to pay the cost of the move.

“Supervisor Burke has always felt that as long as MTA does not have to pay the difference, she would be supportive of moving the station,” said Mike Bohlke, Burke’s transportation deputy. “But she doesn’t feel the MTA should pay the difference.”

Supervisor Ed Edelman, also an MTA member, said he would like to study the relocation idea further before deciding one way or another on it.

“We know that the MTA doesn’t have the money it used to and people in the Valley are hungry for transit,” he said. “But we also have to decide what makes best sense for transit riders.”