Car Company’s Refusal to Sell Site Is Latest Station Snag

Decade-old plans to build a sixth police station in the San Fernando Valley hit another snag when DaimlerChrysler rejected the city’s offer to buy its Mission Hills property as the site, officials said Tuesday.

While city officials hope talks can be resumed, they also are considering other sites, as well as court action against the auto giant.

City Councilman Hal Bernson, whose district includes the site, called on the LAPD on Tuesday to abandon its pursuit of the property on Sepulveda Boulevard and take immediate action to buy another parcel nearby.

“DaimlerChrysler doesn’t want to give up the location, so we’re going to have to go through a long process,” Bernson said. He asked the LAPD to look at another parcel on San Fernando Mission Road.

But LAPD officials said they want a chance to make a second offer to DaimlerChrysler to avoid more delays.

“It is absolutely essential,” Chief Bernard C. Parks said of the project. “We believe at some point in the near future, the Valley should have a minimum of eight stations to bring the response times down, to get more resources and to better address problems.”

The five existing Valley stations cover an average of 45 square miles each, more than twice the area policed by stations outside the Valley, Parks said.

But the proposal to add another station has been plagued by problems. The sixth station was promised by city officials as part of a 1989 police bond measure, but the money dried up before the LAPD could fulfill that promise.

Although the City Council has allocated $4 million for purchase and environmental studies, officials will need to find another $17 million for construction.