Police, Parks Department Swap Land, Building

In retrospect, it all appears so simple. Two city departments--one for parks, one for police--made an old-fashioned land swap to give the San Fernando Valley a new recreation center and a new police station.

But the swap wasn’t so simple.

It took six years, two mayoral administrations, the approval of several government bodies and an extra $160,000 payment to make the swap come out even. But in the end, say officials, it saved taxpayers more than a million dollars. And if all goes as planned, the police station will be open in two months.

The deal provided a prime location for the station at 11640 Burbank Blvd. In exchange, the Department of Recreation and Parks will take over the old North Hollywood station at 11480 Tiara St. in July.

The 17,000-square-foot station, which was built in 1958, will be renovated and renamed the North Hollywood Administrative and Service Center. A portion of the building will be used as a senior citizens recreation center and other parts will provide some badly needed administrative space for the parks department.

The road leading to this point was a long one, filled with twists.

After voter passage of a $176-million police construction bond in 1989, the Police Commission formed a committee to decide the fate of several stations in the Valley, including North Hollywood.

The 2-acre lot that the aging station stands on was considered too small for expansion. Buying adjacent land was deemed too costly, so officials decided to search for property in another area of North Hollywood for a new station.

“We needed a location that was near the center of the district and close enough to major traffic arteries in order to improve our response times,” said Ron Frankle, a former committee member and retired deputy chief of the department.

By 1990, LAPD officials found the perfect spot: a 2.75-acre site just east of the Hollywood Freeway and facing Burbank Boulevard. There was one small problem: The land was located in North Hollywood Park.

Frankle and his committee approached Barry Simon, a senior management analyst for the park department’s land management division, about working out a deal.

In an innovative request, the LAPD offered to trade the old station on Tiara Street and the land it stood on for an equivalent site inside the park.

Parks officials were interested in the proposal because they had tentative plans to build another recreation center in North Hollywood anyway. However, at the time, funding and a location were uncertain.

What’s more, strict rules govern interdepartmental land trades.

“The Los Angeles City Charter has a specific rule that says when departments exchange property, that it not only be of equal size but also equal value,” Simon said.

But an appraisal showed that was not the case. The old station site was valued at $2.93 million, the parkland at $3.32 million.

Simon offered a counterproposal. If the police purchased an additional strip of land near the park between Magnolia and Chandler boulevards, the reappraised value for the two packages would be close to equal.

“The land in question is less than an acre,” Simon said. “It had originally been part of North Hollywood Park. However, when the state put the Hollywood Freeway through, they claimed eminent domain and isolated that section from the rest of the park.”

It was agreed that once the Police Department obtained title to that property, it would be transferred to Recreation and Parks.

Police officials agreed to Simon’s request and purchased the strip of land for $240,000. After approval by then-Mayor Tom Bradley, a preliminary agreement was drawn up in September 1990.

Under the terms of the memo, the LAPD would repair the roof of the old station before leaving and would replace the site’s underground gas, oil and diesel tanks. Outlying buildings on the property would remain standing. The department would also make arrangements with an outside contractor for any necessary asbestos removal.

Finally, the LAPD agreed to pay Recreation and Parks $160,000 to make the appraised value of the two properties even.

Although both sides abided by the agreement’s terms, the pact was not officially approved until last year. The memo had to be submitted separately to the City Council, the offices of Mayor Richard Riordan, Recreation and Parks commissioners, Police Chief Willie L. Williams and the Police Commission.

Construction of the new North Hollywood station finally began in October 1994. Since then, intermittent delays have pushed back the opening of the $15.2-million, 37,340-square-foot facility to February of next year.

Recreation and Parks intends to use the $160,000 to start renovations after the police leave. However, officials acknowledge that final plans are still under discussion and that more money will be needed to renovate the entire property.

Among some of the revenue-earning ideas that park commissioners have considered is a plan to leave the station’s jail cells intact so that they can be rented out to TV and movie studios.

Despite delays and long years of planning, Frankle and other LAPD officials estimate that cooperation saved local taxpayers more than $1.5 million.

“Although the savings did not apply to the actual construction of the building,” Frankle said, “it was still a million and a half dollars that was not spent purchasing land at current property values.”

Simon said there are often hidden costs when land exchanges of this type are made. He considers the Police Department fortunate that the land it received was vacant.

“In a lot of cases, city departments have to pay relocation expenses for private citizens and other fees to relocate businesses,” Simon said. “That’s not the only hidden cost to worry about; you often end up having to pay for building demolition as well.”

Officials from both departments said the real winners are the taxpayers.

“It was fortunate that we were both able to broker a deal that not only saves money but creates a needed facility for senior citizens,” said Martin Pomeroy, current LAPD deputy chief and commanding officer of operations for the Valley Bureau.

“We were pleased when the LAPD approached us with their proposal,” Simon said, “This is a case where we can show citizens that government can work together for the common good.”