Homeowners Tire of Trail Users

Homeowners in the exclusive Briarcliff area are taking steps to restrict parking in front of their homes, where a hiking trail begins, complaining of noise, crime and increasing crowds of trail users.

Hikers respond that if the homeowners succeed, nature-lovers will have little access to scenic Fryman Canyon, an area that conservationists fought to preserve from development specifically so it could serve as an urban escape.

Those who live along the access road leading to the Betty B. Dearing Trail have garnered dozens of signatures supporting a parking ban from 8 a.m to 6 p.m on two of the most clogged thoroughfares leading to the trail entrance, Fryman Road and Iradell Lane. Parking is now banned on only a small strip of Fryman Road.

The Dearing Trail winds through Wilacre Park to 63-acre Fryman Canyon, situated north of Mulholland Drive and west of Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

Upset homeowners are also negotiating with officials of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy to build a parking lot on flat land a few feet from the trail’s entrance on Fryman Road.

“We don’t want to stop hiking. We don’t want to stop people from walking their dogs along the trail. . . . But I’m tired of people using my neighborhood as a parking lot and tired of being a park ranger,” said Paul Marquez, a two-year resident of the area.

He said several cars owned by residents and visitors have been broken into while parked on streets in the area.

Marquez said strangers have knocked on his door asking to use his telephone and repeatedly used his water hose because there are no fountains along the trail. One group even unfolded a portable table on his lawn and started a picnic, he said.

“We’re concerned about the lack of supervision at night. There’s a lot of parties going on up there,” said Barbara Thaxton, a resident who called a neighborhood meeting over the problem.

Conservancy officials say there is no money to build a parking lot and even if funds were available, the effort would require months of public hearings. They proposed an alternative plan--supported by other area residents--calling for the stationing of a ranger in the area 24 hours a day. The park is now patrolled by rangers during hours that vary, and is frequently un-patrolled.

The ranger could guard against crime and enforce parking restrictions already in place near the trail’s entrance, conservancy officials said.

“We would prefer to deal with the problem directly . . . before taking the draconian step of restricting parking along a public street and access to a public park,” said John Diaz, chief of land acquisitions for the conservancy.

To put more parking restrictions into effect, two-thirds of residents on both sides of the street must sign the petition, which would then be submitted to the city Department of Transportation for approval, a process that could take several months, said Erwin Kodash, the department’s senior engineer for the East Valley.

A marathon campaign to prevent home building in Fryman Canyon was won in 1991 when the conservancy and the city of Los Angeles purchased the area for $10.4 million from developer Fred Sahadi, who had spent 10 years seeking city approval to build 26 houses on the site.

He lacked only a grading permit to begin the $25-million project but was thwarted by a coalition of elected officials and environmentalists. During the contentious fight for control of the tract, the developer fenced off access to the trail and an environmentalist blocked a construction crew with her Mercedes-Benz.

Recently, several hikers along the trail characterized the parking petition as elitist.

The homeowners “want to live in nice areas and we want to enjoy [hiking in] them,” said Irene Cobarrubias of North Hollywood, as she walked two leashed dachshund mixes. “We deserve to enjoy nature too.”

Parking restrictions “would defeat the purpose of having a mountain trail,” said Matt Littell, who drove four miles to walk it. “It would be a nightmare for people to park.”

Signs forbidding parking in front of the home of Alex Trebek, host of the “Jeopardy!” TV game show, are regularly ignored, hikers said. Nonetheless, Trebek has joined several residents who oppose further restrictions.

“It would be unfair to deny people access to the facility,” he said.