Reservoir to Be Preserved as Wildlands

After months of bureaucratic tug-of-war, the Department of Water and Power has at last agreed to preserve all of the Chatsworth Reservoir, one of the city’s largest remaining tracts of unprotected wildlands.

In a letter sent Friday to the DWP board in advance of Tuesday’s meeting, General Manager S. David Freeman said the agency now wants “preservation of the entire site as a nature preserve.”

“All of the property will remain in its current state,” according to Freeman’s letter.

Freeman’s position has changed since July, when he told the board that the “vast majority” of the 1,300-acre property would be preserved. His statement sparked concern that up to 300 acres of site might be developed with sports fields.

“This is what we have been asking for,” Ali Sar, a spokesman for Los Angeles City Councilman Hal Bernson, said of the latest proposal.

Frank Salas, a DWP spokesman, confirmed that the plan goes further than any other at committing to maintain the reservoir as a wildland.

“I think the city fathers have made it clear they want it preserved,” Salas said.

He denied that the agency was agreeing to full preservation only because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recently suggested a federal takeover of the property. The agency opposes giving the reservoir to the federal government, Salas said. “We’ve done a pretty good job of preserving it ourselves.”

The reservoir was used by the DWP for water storage from 1919 until 1969, when it was taken out of service.

For years, Bernson and preservationists have asked the DWP to keep the property as wildlands.

A year ago, DWP Board President Rick Caruso caused a firestorm in the San Fernando Valley with comments that suggested the agency might consider developing the 1,300-acre reservoir with housing, businesses and sports fields.

Valley preservationists were so concerned with agency plans to build homes or athletic fields that they began a short-lived campaign to oust Caruso.

A follow-up study by the DWP listed seven options, ranging from preservation as a nature area to construction of housing at a density of two units per acre.

Freeman’s report to the board states the department will continue to maintain the reservoir as a nature preserve, while it negotiates with groups, including the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, that can help oversee the site and arrange for nature studies.

Freeman’s more definitive recommendation on the property was a welcome relief to environmentalists, including Wendi Gladstone, a member of the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society.

Gladstone said previous DWP proposals had been “ambiguous,” possibly leaving the door open for development. She praised Freeman’s commitment to preserve the site.

“It’s a prized place,” she said Friday. “It’s one of the few open spaces left in our area.”