Studio City : Feuer Aids Search for New Fire Station Site

City Councilman Michael Feuer is working with the Los Angeles Fire Department to find a site for a new, expanded fire station that would replace one on Coldwater Canyon Avenue that was wrecked by the Northridge earthquake.

The old fire station, located on Coldwater Canyon Avenue just north of Ventura Boulevard, was demolished in August of last year.

According to Howard Gantman, Feuer’s assistant chief of staff, the Fire Department has been studying about 25 sites in the community as potential locations for a new station. One possibility is a one-acre section of the Studio City Golf Course bordering Whitsett Avenue.

“We’re looking at what needs to happen to get a negotiated agreement for a new site, which could be this [golf course] or another site,” Gantman said, declining to identify the other sites.

If the city decides it wants the golf course land, it may have to use its powers of eminent domain to obtain it. However, the Fire Department could also decide to accept a replacement facility of similar size on the old lot, Gantman said.

In a related issue, Feuer’s office is looking into delays in the establishment of a temporary fire station on the old site, consisting of four trailers. On Jan. 24, the City Council voted to allocate $408,000 for the trailers, which will include dormitory and shower facilities and a shed to house a fire engine.

Gantman said the delays were due to bottlenecks in the city bureaucracy, adding: “We’re pushing real hard to get things moving on that.”

Progress on both the search for the new site and the temporary fire station was limited while the council district had no representative on the council from December to July, but Feuer is working to rectify that, Gantman said.

Since the earthquake, the crew has been working out of a neighboring station, resulting in longer response times to fires in the area.