Canyon Residents Urge Ban on Parking Near Scenic Trail

Homeowners in the exclusive Briarcliff area of Studio City are taking steps to restrict parking in front of their homes, complaining of noise, crime and increasing crowds of hikers.

Hikers--whose trail begins near the homes--contend that if the homeowners succeed, nature lovers will have little access to scenic Fryman Canyon, a place conservationists fought to preserve from development so it could be 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. Now, parking is banned on a small strip of Fryman Road.

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

Homeowners also are 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 in the area.

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.

To put more parking restrictions into effect, two-thirds of residents on both sides of the street must sign a petition, which must then be submitted to the city Department of Transportation for approval, which could take several months.

A marathon campaign to prevent development 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 approval to build 26 houses.

The other day, 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.”