Comment Time Is Extended for Planned Busway

Responding to mounting public concern over a proposed east-west busway in the San Fernando Valley, Metropolitan Transportation Agency officials said Tuesday they have informally extended the public comment period for another two weeks.

The extension was designed, in part, to address objections from residents in central and West Valley neighborhoods near the proposed line, MTA Planning Manager Kevin J. Michel said.

Originally, residents had until July 3 to weigh in on the 14-mile busway that would connect the Metro Red Line station in Universal City to Warner Center in Woodland Hills. The MTA board is scheduled to vote on the extension plan July 26.

Until now, much of the debate involved the plan’s impact on Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods on Chandler Boulevard in Valley Village and North Hollywood.

But 140 residents, primarily from the West Valley, showed up at a Tarzana elementary school Monday to voice their objections and scold MTA officials for failing to notify them about the impending project in the West Valley.

“We hadn’t been notified about the busway until just before the first public meeting on the project two weeks ago,” said Tarzana resident Jill Haber, who leads an anti-busway group called West Valley Concerned Citizens. “The MTA says the busway is not going to change the character of our area. We disagree.”

West Valley homeowners voiced strong opposition to the busway, saying it would endanger pedestrians, increase traffic accidents, erode property values and increase noise and pollution. Similar views were expressed by Orthodox Jewish residents.

They also complained there would be no sound protection on the south side of the busway while on the north side the MTA would build 12-foot sound walls, leaving a vacant 5-foot space behind homes, creating “crime alleys,” they said.

MTA officials estimate the Burbank-Chandler line would cost $285 million. Buses would average 29 mph and a cross-Valley trip would take 28.8 minutes.

An alternative route would bypass Chandler Boulevard and take buses north on Lankershim Boulevard and west on Oxnard Street before reconnecting with the busway at Woodman Avenue. That line would cost $245 million and buses would average 24 mph. A cross-Valley trip would take about 34 minutes, according to the MTA.

About a dozen neighborhood groups along the route are seeking to block the project, said Diana Lipari, a Valley Glen homeowner and chairman of Citizens Organized for Smart Transit.

She said she was concerned that much of the debate has centered on Chandler Boulevard and not on whether the project would meet the Valley’s transit needs. Her group led a summit meeting Tuesday at Valley College to discuss strategy and how to present a united front to the MTA board and area political leaders.

“The message I want to send is that this project is very little gain for a lot of money,” Lipari said. “The money would be better spent by upgrading all the north-south, east-west Valley routes with rapid buses. Funneling all the money into one corridor makes little sense when we should spread the wealth around.”