STUDIO CITY : City Agrees to Alter Park Improvements

The Los Angeles parks department will modify recent and proposed improvements to Laurel Canyon Park, a heavily-used, off-leash dog exercise area on Mulholland Drive.

A series of enhancements to the park, including installation of a 15-inch curb along its steep, narrow entrance, infuriated park users who said the concrete and steel used in the project ruined the park’s rustic setting.

During a series of meetings with concerned park patrons, the parks department responded to complaints by the group ParkWatch about the kind of work and protracted delays caused by contractor management problems.

Last week, residents said parks officials agreed to modify some of the changes and to delete other scheduled parts of the project that have not yet been completed.

“The park was not broken in the first place, and they were trying to fix it,” said Joan Luchs, a ParkWatch member.

Luchs said park users became most upset when the city asked the project contractor, Travers Construction Inc. of Port Hueneme, to install a concrete curb along one side of the park’s entrance, effectively prohibiting cars from parking along that side of the drive. The amount of the city’s contract with Travers was about $112,000.

Jane Purse, a ParkWatch leader, said the new curb reduced the number of parking spaces in the park by nearly 50. ParkWatch also decried such proposed changes as a steel staircase railing leading from the parking lot to the dog exercise area, and the pouring of a concrete strip to run beneath a new fence in the park.

Luchs and Purse said the parks department recently agreed to modify the curb to restore about 27 parking spaces. Previously, city officials said they would strike other pieces of work called for in the contract, such as the strip, the stair railing and installation of a water fountain.

The parks department official in charge of the work could not be reached for comment Wednesday.