Mental Health Clinic to Open in West Valley : Health: County will close Van Nuys office to pay for new Canoga Park center, which will right a geographical imbalance.

For the first time in five years, residents of the west San Fernando Valley will not have to travel across town to get free or low-cost mental health services.

Los Angeles County is opening an outpatient mental health clinic in Canoga Park in July, helping right a geographical imbalance that occurred in 1989 when the cash-strapped county closed six clinics, including the only one west of Sepulveda Boulevard.

To pay for the new clinic, the county will shut down one of five mental health centers in the east Valley, at 8101 Sepulveda Blvd. in Van Nuys, and move the staff to the West Valley site. Four other mental health centers in the East Valley--in Van Nuys, North Hollywood, San Fernando and Lake View Terrace--will remain open after the county launches the clinic at 7621 Canoga Ave.

“Service delivery in the Valley has been extremely lopsided until now,” said Glenn Cotham, president of the Van Nuys chapter of the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, a private nonprofit advocacy group. “We’re very elated. This is just what we want.”

“The move is really good for clients,” said Judy Cooperberg, a spokeswoman for the Mental Health Assn. of Los Angeles County, another private nonprofit advocacy group.

County officials tried two years ago to open a clinic in the West Valley near a church, but dropped the plan following strong opposition from Reseda residents.

Little neighborhood opposition has arisen to the current plan, county officials said, but they acknowledged that the decision is not widely known. The Canoga Park neighborhood is largely industrial and commercial, although there is an apartment building behind the clinic, separated by a wall.

The owners of the apartment building inquired about the clinic several months ago, but their concerns were allayed after meeting with county officials, said Kathleen Snook, chief deputy director of the county Mental Health Department.

About 50 people a day are expected to visit the clinic for treatment of depression, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses, said Dr. Ron Klein, director of the soon-to-close Van Nuys clinic. The West Valley clinic will be open Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Klein, who also will head the new clinic, said neighbors have nothing to fear from the center’s clients. For instance, no drug addicts will be treated there, he said.

“We have had not one complaint about our staff or clients in the 10 years I’ve been here in Van Nuys,” Klein said. “We’re not seeing a terribly violent population.”

The move is opposed by the landlord of the Van Nuys clinic, who has offered the county a discount to remain where it is. Eli Landman, co-owner of the Sepulveda Boulevard building, has offered to reduce the rent by $8,200, to $19,500 a month--the same rate the county is to pay for the smaller Canoga Park facility. Landman has also offered to repair the plumbing and make other improvements to the building.

But county officials said they will stick with the Canoga Park site because it is a newer building in a better location.