Bond Issue for Police on April Ballot

A Los Angeles City Council panel on Monday approved placing a $176-million bond issue on the April ballot to pay for new police facilities, including a sixth station at an unspecified location in the San Fernando Valley and replacement of the old North Hollywood station.

The bond issue recommended by the Police, Fire and Public Safety Committee also would finance refurbishing the Foothill and West Valley stations and the Valley headquarters in Van Nuys. Construction of a parking structure at the Valley headquarters is also proposed.

Sites for the North Hollywood and Valley stations will be selected after voters approve the measure, a police spokesman said. A police report sent to the committee said the area served by the new Valley station would be centered at Balboa and Roscoe boulevards.

Construction of a new Valley station would require redrawing the boundaries of five Valley police divisions, said Cmdr. Matthew Hunt, commanding officer of the Police Department’s Support Services Bureau.

The last police station built in the Valley was Devonshire Division, constructed in 1973. “The Valley has experienced a lot of growth since then,” Hunt said. He added that the new Valley station probably would not be built for 5 to 7 years.

The North Hollywood station at 11480 Tiara St. was built in 1958 and is “an outmoded, operationally obsolete facility located on inadequate acreage,” according to a police report.

Outside the Valley, the bond issue would pay for construction of a station in the Fairfax district, rebuilding of the Newton Division station near downtown Los Angeles, refurbishing five stations and modernizing of the Police Academy.

The bond proposal will go to the council’s Finance and Revenue and Charter and Elections committees before going to the full council.