Residents Fear Eyesore, Want Terminal to Resemble Early 1900s Station

A group of Chatsworth residents told local officials Thursday night that they want a planned commuter terminal to be a replica of the original, turn-of-the-century Chatsworth Park train station that was torn down nearly 30 years ago.

Fearing that the bus and train transportation center being proposed could become a graffiti-covered, stucco eyesore that would attract undesirables, members of Citizens for Chatsworth unveiled their own plan for a wood-paneled depot flanked by a shopping mall with western facades and a wooden boardwalk.

“We want something that will revitalize the community and revitalize the heritage of Chatsworth,” said Susan Amerikaner, one of the group’s leaders. “We have a lot of exciting history in Chatsworth.”

Group members meeting with transit officials at Lawrence Junior High School said the transit and retail center would commemorate the area’s history as a small ranching community of the 1800s.

It also would celebrate its popularity as a filming location for Western movies in more recent years.

“We had both the real West and the Hollywood West here,” Amerikaner said. “It’s amazing to me that there is nothing here to recognize that.”

City and transportation officials have proposed building a transit center that would be located in the heart of the Chatsworth commercial district on a 13-acre site that the county transportation agency has agreed to buy as part of a $450- million property purchase from Southern Pacific Railroad.

Southern Pacific had planned to construct a lumber transfer station on the long-vacant property, but its city building permits were revoked in September after residents protested that the center would pose a traffic and safety hazard.

Community leaders were initially thrilled when they learned of the planned property sale, which is scheduled to be closed in six months.

But, they said, they now want to be sure that the transit center does not turn into something worse than the lumberyard.

The original depot, built in the 1890s, was torn down in 1962 because of lack of use.

About 70 Chatsworth residents attended the meeting, and when asked if they supported plans to build a replica of the old depot almost all of them raised their hands.

Chatsworth organizers believe that creating an attractive multiuse center that would draw visitors day and night would discourage transients from congregating.

Nikolas Patsaouras, president of the Rapid Transit District’s board of directors, told the citizens that county planners are willing to develop a plan that they will be happy with.

He said “we will consider” the proposal to design the new station as a replica of the original, built in the 1890s.