Proposed Map of New City in Valley Unveiled

Organizers of a campaign to study pulling the San Fernando Valley out of the city of Los Angeles made public a map Thursday of what could become the boundaries of the nation’s sixth-largest city, slicing off the Valley along the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains and taking most of Cahuenga Pass with it.

“We are all going as one. . . . We are all in this together,” said Jeff Brain, co-chairman of Valley Voters Organized Toward Empowerment (Valley VOTE). The group was formed by residents who advocate a vote on Valley secession. It plans to gather signatures on petitions to study the issue.

In addition to establishing the boundaries that Valley VOTE will place on the petitions, Brain said the proposed borders show that no portion of the Valley will be left behind by the secession movement.

“There was concern about whether . . . [the secession issue] would become east versus west,” he said. Particularly in the northeast Valley, residents were worried that their neighborhoods would be left out by those bent on uniting wealthier areas to the south and west, he said.

Instead, the proposed boundaries approved unanimously by Valley VOTE’s board of directors Wednesday embrace nearly the largest possible definition of the Valley.

“We feel with boundaries we’ve defined we could have a economic base that is substantial,” said Brain.

The proposed borders encompass an area that is home to 1.2 million people, surrounding the city of San Fernando and the unincorporated area of Universal City on all sides, and squeezing right up to the borders of Burbank, and the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hollywood.

The lines follow the current L.A. city borders to the north, west and east. On the south, the border would largely follow Mulholland Drive; residents on the south side of that road would remain in the city of Los Angeles, while residents on the north side would join the Valley.

In Cahuenga Pass, the line would come from the eastern city limits at Burbank south down the eastern edge of Barham Boulevard to the Hollywood Freeway, then down the western edge of the Hollywood Freeway to Mulholland Drive. Universal City would not be included.

The border would follow the southern edge of Mulholland to the intersection with Owen Brown Road above Woodland Hills, then south along the eastern edge of Owen Brown Road to the present Los Angeles city limits, against Calabasas, Hidden Hills and Ventura County.

Valley VOTE hopes to submit its proposed boundaries this summer, along with petitions carrying 180,000 signatures, to the state board that oversees cityhood drives, the Local Agency Formation Commission, Brain said.

That board would then study the issue and decide whether to seek a citywide vote.

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Secession Boundaries

The boundaries proposed by Valley VOTE follow the existing Los Angeles city boundaries along the west, north and east, omitting the city of San Fernando. From the eastern city boundary, the new city boundary would be along the east edge of Barham Boulevard to the Hollywood Freeway, then along the west edge of the Hollywood Freeway to Mulholland Drive, then west along the south edge of Mulholland Drive to Owen Brown Road above Woodland Hills, and south along the east edge of Owen Brown Road to its intersection with the existing Los Angeles city boundary.