Council Supports Legislation to Halt Reseda Extension

Local lawmakers Wednesday urged Gov. Pete Wilson to sign a bill that would block a four-lane extension of Reseda Boulevard southward to Mulholland Drive, legislation that environmentalists say is needed to curb traffic and development in the Santa Monica Mountains.

After a thorny, hourlong debate, the Los Angeles City Council voted 9 to 4 to ask Wilson to support the legislation written by Assemblyman Terry B. Friedman (D-Los Angeles).

Wilson spokesman Franz Wisner said Wednesday that the governor has not reached a decision on the measure. Wilson has until Oct. 14 to sign or veto the bill. If he does not act by then, it will become law.

Jerry Daniels, leader of a homeowners coalition, predicted that the council vote will make it easier for Wilson to sign the Friedman bill into law.

Extending Reseda south through Topanga State Park to Mulholland would disrupt the mountain parkland with increased traffic, destabilize mountain slopes with grading, and create fire hazards, said Daniels and other environmental activists during Wednesday’s debate.

Councilman Marvin Braude, who supports the bill, told his colleagues that their “paramount consideration” must be to protect the Santa Monica Mountains park system, touted as one of the nation’s largest urban parks.

But the debate took a contentious turn when several lawmakers charged that the Friedman bill is an elitist measure that would continue to limit the mountain park system’s accessibility to San Fernando Valley and inner-city residents.

“To restrict the access of San Fernando Valley residents is unconscionable,” Councilman Hal Bernson said. “We can’t have that type of elitism.”

Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky said he rejected the “have versus have-not” argument, saying the land is accessible to the public.

The Friedman bill enables the state Department of Parks and Recreation to override part of a council-approved subdivision permit that requires developer Harlan Lee to build an 8,500-foot-long extension of Reseda as a condition of building 178 homes in the area.

The city has a street easement through the state park, which allows Lee to build the Reseda extension with city approval.

Friedman’s bill, however, gives the parks agency the right to block Lee from extending Reseda across its land.

By its vote, the council ignored its own fire and transportation agencies, which advised completion of the Reseda-Mulholland link for fire safety and traffic circulation reasons.

The Harlan Lee project and another development of 154 luxury houses by Dale Poe cannot be adequately protected from fires unless they have a second access road, fire officials have said.

Also, transportation planners have said, a Reseda-Mulholland link should be built as the first step toward providing an alternative route for freeway commuters traveling from the West Valley through the Sepulveda Pass.