CULVER CITY : Residents of 3 Areas Oppose Bus Yard Proposal

A plan by the Municipal Bus Lines here to build a new maintenance and storage yard has drawn the ire of Westside residents near all of the three sites being considered for the multimillion-dollar project.

The sites include a parcel in Culver City and two in Los Angeles.

Half the capacity of the proposed bus yard would be leased by the Los Angeles Department of Transportation.

But residents and businesses surrounding the sites want nothing to do with the project, complaining that it would worsen noise, air pollution and traffic congestion while lowering property values.

“I see it as having no benefit to our community whatsoever,” said Ronni Cooper, president of the Ladera Heights Civic Assn., which opposes the Culver City site at 5933 Slauson Blvd. “Where they pick it, I don’t care. As long as it’s not in my back yard,” he said, echoing a sentiment shared by other project opponents.

The city needs a larger bus yard in order to increase its fleet in the future, Deputy Transportation Director Steve Cunningham said.

Cunningham said ridership has grown from 2.4 million in 1984 to 4 million. As a result, he said, the city’s bus service has outgrown its current 4.3-acre site at 9815 W. Jefferson Blvd.

Expanding the existing facility would be too costly because of the expense of buying adjacent property and relocating the businesses on it, Cunningham said.

Culver City’s initial budget for a new bus yard is $19.2 million, 80% of which would come from the federal government and 20% from local transit funds.

The city’s first choice is a 7.9-acre Culver City site next to Holy Cross Cemetery and the eastern end of the Marina Freeway, Cunningham said.

It includes a two-story building and is zoned for industrial use.

This site is ideal because it is two miles from the city’s existing maintenance yard, and because two-thirds of Culver City buses service the nearby Fox Hills Mall, Cunningham said. In addition, Los Angeles Transportation Department commuter buses would have immediate access to the Marina Freeway.

“If you look at a map, you’ll see it’s just a good location,” Cunningham said. “It’s centrally located.”

But Cooper said noise and odors from the proposed bus yard will plague a neighborhood half a mile from the Slauson site, in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County.

The site is also about 100 feet from the Culver City Terrace Mobile Home Park.

The two alternate sites are in Los Angeles--5535 Westlawn Ave. at Beatrice Street and 9225 Aviation Blvd. at Arbor Vitae Street.

But the likelihood that either of those locations might be chosen has diminished since Los Angeles Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, whose district includes both sites, has publicly opposed the bus yard. The Los Angeles City Council has final say over any project in the city.

Moreover, Los Angeles residents and businesses are as adamant as their Culver City counterparts about not wanting the project.

Many say Culver City’s bus yard should not be their problem.

“It’s their bus yard. Why don’t they put it in their city?” said Mickey Shockley of the Del Rey Homeowners & Neighbors Assn., which opposes the Westlawn Avenue site.

The 6.3-acre site would combine two lots formerly occupied by a General Telephone Co. maintenance and repair facility and a distribution facility for Republic Pictures.

As for the third site, on Aviation Boulevard, similar concerns were raised by Sharon (Redd) Anderson of Manchester Square Neighborhood Watch.

Anderson said her group has collected over 200 signatures against the proposal.

“We live in an area that is already bombarded by airplanes on a daily basis,” she said. “We think (the bus yard) belongs in Culver City.”

The 9.5-acre Aviation site is used by Hertz Rental Corp. as a car storage and servicing lot.

Cunningham noted that Culver City’s buses serve most of the Westside and that about half of their passengers live outside the city. “We look at this as part of the regional transportation system,” he said.

A draft of the project’s environmental impact report is being reviewed by the Culver City Planning Commission.

The commission has not scheduled a vote on the EIR, Cunningham said, but it should consider the issue within the next three months.