VAN NUYS : Site May Be Added to Tillman Alternatives

After spending nearly 10 months narrowing alternative sites for a controversial septic waste facility from 70 down to three, Los Angeles city officials said Thursday that they may consider a fourth site.

Ara Kasparian, who oversees environmental impact reports for the Bureau of Engineering, said officials now are looking at the Los Angeles-Glendale Water Reclamation Plant as a site for the facility, which is now at the Tillman Water Reclamation Plant in the Sepulveda Basin.

Kasparian said city officials had rejected the Los Angeles-Glendale plant because they thought its expansion plans would preclude using it.

Recently, however, an official at the Bureau of Sanitation told the engineering bureau that L.A.-Glendale might be able to accommodate the structure, Kasparian said.

The L.A.-Glendale plant is just east of the Los Angeles River south of Colorado Street in Los Angeles.

The facility would be used as a central collection point for 90 to 200 truckloads a day of sewage collected from residential septic tanks throughout the San Fernando Valley and neighboring cities. If a combination of sites is selected, there would be more than one acceptance point.

A $2 million facility was built at the Tillman plant in Van Nuys, but it never opened after public outcry persuaded the city to conduct a belated environmental study of the project.

As part of the study, the city is investigating other sites.

“We needed at least two sites (in the East Valley) and we thought about how we could get another site,” Kasparian said. “We looked at other sites that were looked at but were taken” out of consideration.

Kasparian said the engineering bureau wants to get more information from the sanitation bureau before deciding whether to consider L.A.-Glendale as a fourth alternative site.

Reaction to the news among activists concerned about preserving the Sepulveda Basin ranged from noncommittal to tentatively positive.

“It’s by far a more logical choice than putting it in the middle of a recreational area, such as the basin,” said Gerald A. Silver, president of Homeowners of Encino.

The city is studying the environmental impact of opening the facility at Tillman or at any of the three other sites: in Chatsworth near Winnetka Avenue and Nordhoff Street, in Sun Valley on San Fernando Road south of Branford Street and in East Los Angeles at Jesse Street and Santa Fe Avenue.

In related developments:

* There will be a community meeting at the Tillman plant to discuss sewage odors at the plant, 6100 Woodley Ave., at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.