City to Seize Valley Site for Police Station

Vowing to make good on a long-held promise for a north Valley police station, the City Council on Wednesday unanimously approved moving ahead with eminent domain proceedings against a Chrysler-owned property in Mission Hills.

“People in the community have been promised this for at least 12 years, if not longer,” said Councilman Alex Padilla, whose 7th District is where the new station would be built. “They know well that this decision is not being done in haste. It has been well thought out.”

The north Valley station, first promised in 1989 as part of Proposition 2--a $176-million police facilities bond measure approved by voters--has long been viewed as a top priority by the Los Angeles Police Department. Each of the Valley stations covers about 45 square miles, more than twice the area patrolled by non-Valley stations.

In October the council approved a $4-million down payment on the 11121 Sepulveda Blvd. parcel. But Chrysler officials said they were also about to close escrow on the same property.

With that possible hurdle in mind, the council also decided to study possible alternative sites.

Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski, who heads the council’s Public Safety Committee, said Wednesday the city’s research of other locations did not find a better site. The Mission Hills parcel, she said, “was fairly vetted, fairly looked at.”

With its easy access to three freeways, “it’s almost dead center, the exact location where the police believe an additional [LAPD] division should be located,” Padilla said.

Land acquisition costs are estimated at $3 million to $4 million, with $800,000 for design and planning and $17.2 million for construction costs. Current plans call for the station to be open in June 2003.

The city’s plans, however, displeased several speakers.

“Chrysler purchased this property in 1999 to have a minority-owned Chrysler dealership in this community,” said Gary Kovacic, an attorney representing the car maker’s realty division. “We think the proposed taking is bad for business and bad for the community.”

Kovacic said the auto maker estimated the dealership would bring 40 to 50 new jobs, annual sales revenues of $22 million and about $200,000 in annual sales tax revenue. “This will all be lost if you take the property,” he said.

The city should look at Van Nuys, specifically the former General Motors plant site that is now a popular retail center dubbed The Plant, said Duane Cody of the Valley Industry and Commerce Assn.

“Just recently, land there was turned over to the city for new police and fire facilities,” Cody said. “We feel the city should utilize land it already owns or that has been donated for the same purpose before it shuts down private business.”

Bob Beehler, a real estate manager for Chrysler Realty Corp., also urged the council to reconsider.

“We are not here to vote against the north Valley police station,” Beehler said. “My company is for it. But we want you to please slow the process down.”

Council members, however, were in no mood to further delay the project.

“I say to you the police need is a greater need for the public than for the sale of automobiles,” Councilman Hal Bernson said. “The sale of automobiles can be done in an area other than this.”