Balboa Park Center Wins Approval After Site Shift

Construction of a $1.4-million community center in Balboa Park, which drew neighborhood opposition because of its original location, won approval Friday from the Los Angeles Recreation and Park Commission after the proposed site was moved.

The 15,000-square-foot building, which will house a gymnasium, stage, clubrooms, kitchen, office and locker rooms, was planned for the southwest corner of the park near Burbank Boulevard and Wish Avenue.

That site was designated on the general development plan for the Sepulveda Dam Recreational Area in 1970 by the Recreation and Parks Department and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

But neighbors complained that the location would aggravate traffic congestion on busy Burbank Boulevard.

At a community meeting in Encino Thursday night, neighbors told the department’s staff of their opposition, and the two sides worked out a compromise, said Al Goldfarb, a department spokesman.

Approved Unanimously

The compromise site, approved unanimously by the commission, lies north of the original location and routes traffic onto Balboa Boulevard.

In other business, the commission moved a step closer to approving construction of the first publicly run indoor swimming pool in the West San Fernando Valley.

The commission unanimously decided that there is no need for the project to undergo an elaborate environmental review, a lengthy process that could have delayed final approval of the pool project at Cleveland High School in Reseda.

The next step will involve approval to proceed with construction. Plans call for a 25,600-square-foot structure housing a 25-yard-by-25-meter swimming pool and a 45-foot-by-15-foot hydrotherapy pool for the handicapped, Goldfarb said.