LAKE VIEW TERRACE : Hearings to Focus on Plan to Restore Lake

Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon will convene public hearings next month to air the federal government’s plans to re-create the lake that gave Lake View Terrace its name.

“We have nothing to hide,” Alarcon told a crowd of about 75 residents during a Monday night community meeting on the Hansen Dam lake restoration plan. “Everything we have been working on will be laid out on the table.”

As part of its master plan for the Hansen Dam Recreation Area, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to construct a 15-acre lake behind Hansen Dam to replace the original lake, called Holiday Lake, which was formed when Hansen Dam was constructed across the Tujunga Wash. The lake was filled by silt after a series of floods in the early 1970s.

Residents are concerned that a new lake with a swimming area will draw massive and unruly crowds, creating traffic and safety nuisances. Others are irate that the old lake won’t be restored.

The corps will construct the new body of water in a higher area where it won’t be affected by even a catastrophic flood, said Nedenia Kennedy, chief of the corps’ environmental support section in Los Angeles.

The state and federal governments will pay the $10-million estimated cost for the new lake, but the city must find a way to maintain and patrol it. Alarcon refused to divulge any details, but promised he will unveil plans to make the park self-sufficient through concession sales and other revenue-generating mechanisms.

Residents urged officials to ensure the park will be well-patrolled. They say that while the park languished, drug dealers moved in. Park officials confirmed their complaints, but said local police are focusing more attention on the area.

Alarcon balked at a city park official’s suggestion that community groups fund private patrols, as they have done in wealthier areas of the Valley.

“The fact of the matter is, if we’re going to make this park safe, we’re not going to do it on the backs of your donations,” Alarcon said. “This community pays taxes and it deserves those services.”