Basin Arts Park Plan Revived

Having weathered years of controversy, legal action and bureaucratic procedure, a group of Valley businessmen and arts patrons has resurfaced with a modified plan to build a cultural center in Sepulveda Basin.

The newest version of Arts Park L.A. would feature an 1,800-seat theater, a children’s art center and a cluster of galleries and workshops set amid the greenery bordering Lake Balboa, an official from the Cultural Foundation said.

At roughly half the size of the original proposal, announced 20 years ago, the project--whose cost has yet to be determined--no longer includes a 500-seat theater, a natural history museum or a media center.

“People would love to have Arts Park,” said Ross Hopkins, the foundation’s executive director. “But we decided to downsize the project to make it more politically acceptable.”

This is not the first time the complex has been scaled back. In response to a lawsuit filed by the Sierra Club and a series of contentious public meetings, the foundation had previously shaved from its plans an outdoor amphitheater, a performance glen and lakeside snack bars.

The current 42-acre proposal comes amid a new round of meetings between the foundation and the city’s Department of Recreation and Parks, one of several city and federal agencies that control the basin. Hopkins has been querying officials in hopes of responding to their concerns about Arts Park.

The next meeting with parks department officials is scheduled for Friday.

“We thought it was a dead project,” said David Attaway, a city environmental supervisor. “But it has been resurrected.”

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As envisioned, Arts Park would be constructed on a portion of the Valley’s largest remaining green space. The basin is a federal flood plain meant to collect water during severe storms. It is owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which leases 2,000 acres to the city of Los Angeles as parkland.

The notion to bring art to this place arose in 1976 when City Council members said they would consider allowing a group called the San Fernando Valley Arts Council to build near the intersection of Victory and Balboa boulevards.

In 1980, the arts council and another nonprofit group, the Valley Cultural Center, formed the Cultural Foundation to raise money for the project, which called for a sprawling 60-acre complex encompassing eight structures.

The cause attracted prominent Valley businessmen, including Warner Center developer Robert Voit and Bert Boeckmann, a multimillionaire car dealer and philanthropist.

Still, the effort got off to a shaky start.

A benefit music festival and a subsequent exhibit by the late Mexican master Rufino Tamayo required corporate donations to keep from losing money. The foundation went through three chairmen, two general managers and two fund-raising directors in the mid-1980s.

At the same time, the Audubon Society, the Coalition to Save the Basin and several homeowners associations argued that the land should remain as undeveloped as possible.

The Sierra Club joined in, filing and subsequently settling a lawsuit to block Arts Park. Opponents repeatedly asked the foundation to consider other sites such as El Cariso Regional Park in Sylmar and the Cal State Northridge campus.

A 1989 Times Poll suggested that 61% of Valley residents wanted more arts facilities but did not necessarily want those facilities built on parkland. And two government hearings on the matter, in 1990 and 1992, at times dissolved into shouting matches.

“With all that feedback, it turned out to be a fairly controversial project,” Attaway said. “The [foundation] lost a lot of momentum.”

Now, with Hopkins at the helm, the foundation has chosen to work outside the public eye, and at one point persuaded the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum to build a satellite facility at Arts Park.

That possibility dissolved and the project has been streamlined several times over. In addition to cutting back, the foundation agreed to move the centerpiece theater west across Balboa Boulevard to about 20 acres occupied by sod farmers.

The new plan could be finalized and published in revised federal and state environmental impact reports within six months, officials said. At that point, Arts Park may be subjected to yet another round of public hearings “based on the passage of time and the dramatic change in the project,” Attaway said.

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Hopkins hopes to avoid the time-consuming process by simply making the reports publicly available and taking written comments. Responses could be included in an appendix.

The Sierra Club has said it would oppose the shortcut.

“I think the public hearing process is extremely important,” said Jill Swift, a Sierra Club activist and former city parks commissioner. “This is a democracy and if they are afraid of what we’ll say, then perhaps they should back out of the project entirely.”

With or without public meetings, the completed environmental reports would be included in a proposal that would have to win the support of the Recreation and Parks Department. It would subsequently be considered by both the City Council and the Corps of Engineers, both of whom have veto power over the project.

In the meantime, Hopkins will continue to meet with the parks department. Though the talks have been productive, Attaway said, they do not guarantee success.

“We’ll give applicants some guidance,” the environmental supervisor said. “But we can’t give them any assurance on the outcome.”

And even if Arts Park secures all the necessary approvals, it is not certain that the foundation can raise the money needed for construction.

Hopkins had estimated two years ago that it would cost $150 million to build the complex. Although no current estimates are available, the latest revisions would likely reduce that amount.

The group has said that it will pursue fund-raising in earnest after signing a sublease on the parkland.

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1987

Early versions of the Arts Park proposal called for eight facilities spread across 60 acres.

1. Performing Arts Pavilion

2. Arts Park facility

3. Performance Grove

4. Natural History Museum

5. Media Education Center

6. Sculpture Exhibition Platform

7. Peformance Glen

8. Lakeside Pavilion

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1996

Arts Park proponents now hope to build an 1,800- seat theater, a children’s center and a gallery and workshop facility on 42 acres.

1. Performing Arts Center

2. Children’s Center

3. Arts Park Center