Studio City : Some Dog Park Improvements Axed

Attempting to appease angry community members who say a protracted, city financed project has mangled the pastoral, canyon-bed setting of Laurel Canyon Park, the Los Angeles parks department has directed its contractor to skip some planned improvements and finish the work as quickly as possible.

The move was viewed as a victory for members of ParkWatch, a group of area residents who fought 20 years ago to establish the city’s first off-leash dog exercise area at the park in the Hollywood Hills above Studio City. The ParkWatch group also lobbied successfully against efforts to install tennis courts and a running track there in the early 1980s.

Last year, the department launched an $86,224 improvement project using voter-approved recreation funds. The first work undertaken was to include a water fountain, steps from the parking lot into the grassy park area, curbing and signs. The contract was later amended to include a fence around the park for an additional $31,900.

But Jane Purse, 82, a member of ParkWatch’s leadership, and others decried the work after contractor management problems and severe rainstorms caused lengthy delays. The 60-day contract began in August, and work on the first phase should have been completed in November, parks officials said.

But in January open trenches and other signs of labor in progress continued to mar the park’s landscape.

After heated discussion at a meeting last week, parks commissioners ordered a temporary halt to the work until the problems could be resolved. On Friday, city officials decided to delete certain components of the project.

“We’ve asked the contractor not to pour any more concrete,” said Julie Riley, a landscape architect with the parks department. “We’ve also directed them not to install the water fountain, not to pour the concrete for a mow strip beneath the fence and not to pour a concrete landing for the steps.”

Purse and others said the problems could have been avoided if members of ParkWatch had been consulted when the improvements were being planned.