Sepulveda Basin Development : Rally Protests Loss of Open Space

About 60 environmentalists and homeowners showed up Sunday at the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area in Van Nuys to protest the loss of open space in the San Fernando Valley’s biggest park.

Organizers of the rally had expected several hundred protesters. But, they said, the lower turnout did not indicate widespread public support for a plan to construct an arts complex and two lakes and to expand a sewage treatment plant in the basin.

Lack of Public Input

“The general public has had no opportunity to say how it wants the park used,” said Doris Bradshaw, a member of the board of directors of Fans of the Basin. “Last fall we collected 4,683 signatures opposing the city’s development plan just from patrons of the vegetable stands around the basin.”

At 2,150 acres, the park, which is northwest of the junction of the San Diego and Ventura freeways, is the largest tract of open space in the Valley--more than 2 1/2 times the size of New York’s Central Park. Owned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and used as a flood control basin, it is leased to the city of Los Angeles for recreational use.

Plans for developing the basin include putting in two lakes filled with treated water from the nearby Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, doubling the plant’s sewage capacity and building an amphitheater, museum, galleries and a 2,500-seat concert hall.

Grading for the lakes is nearly complete, according to Joel Brietbart, assistant general manager of planning and development for the city Recreation and Parks Department. A 26-acre lake, to be known as Lake Balboa and to be used for fishing and boating, is being built at the southwest corner of Balboa and Victory boulevards. An 11-acre wildlife pond is being dug just west of the San Diego Freeway and north of Burbank Boulevard.

Don Schultz, president of Ban Airport Noise, called for a halt to the grading. “Do we want to see burning aircraft and mangled bodies all around the basin?” he asked. “This area is a last-ditch landing spot for aircraft in trouble. If we improve it, we take away a pilot’s option to land safely.”

Peter Ireland, who is challenging incumbent Joy Picus for a seat on the City Council next April, criticized Picus and other officials for supporting the development plan. He said that if residents demonstrate the political will to stop the project, they will succeed, as they did in the late 1970s, when homeowner opposition killed plans to build a race track and Olympic facilities in the basin.