ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT BUSWAY OPPOSITION REVIVES OLD DEBATE.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro News Analysis

LOVE it or hate it, the Orange Line has revived the decades-old debate that forced the San Fernando Valley to settle for the busway in the first place: Is the Valley a suburban enclave of sprawling neighborhoods or a big city of 1.9 million people that ought to shape its residential and commercial development?

Residents fighting the Orange Line have grave fears the busway will ``Manhattanize'' their cherished suburban lifestyle.

But others say the Valley already has become urbanized and the busway is a first step toward giving order to sprawling, mini-mall landscape by starting to build mass transit alternatives to freeway gridlock.

``When we built Los Angeles we made a number of mistakes,'' said Robert Scott, the former president of the city's Planning Commission and a longtime Valley civic leader.

``What has to happen is, we have to have those centers reinvigorated, by connection to mass transit, and the community has to (provide input on) the mix of tenants. This doesn't happen overnight.''

City planners a generation ago understood it was time to look beyond the city's freeway-dependent ways and start focusing development in town centers. They estimate 6 million more people - two Chicagos - are coming to Southern California by 2030. Unless we want to cram our kids and grandkids into an already red-hot housing market and jammed freeways, more homes and transportation routes are desperately needed.

Transit became the double-edged solution: Mass-transit lines can help ease gridlock while providing a focal point for new multistory, mixed-use housing and commercial centers.

Los Angeles County voters agreed, in 1980 and 1990, when they voted for a 1 percent sales tax on every dollar spent to build mass transit lines.

The city's 1996 General Plan framework, a controversial update to the General Plan, relies on higher density up to a quarter-mile from transit stations as a key strategy for handling future growth and development.

Two years ago, the City Council approved a 35 percent density bonus for affordable housing built near transit.

City planning maps throughout the 1990s show the Orange Line as a transit corridor ever since the Metropolitan Transportation Authority bought the old Southern Pacific freight lines in 1991 and 1992. Street cars ran along Chandler Boulevard as far back as 1911.

But residents have not given up the fight.

``People came to the Valley originally to have space,'' said Diana Lipari, chairwoman of Citizens Organized for Smart Transit, the group whose lawsuit shut down busway construction.

``We're not New York City. We shouldn't make ourselves into New York City,'' said Lipari, a Valley Glen resident, real estate agent and former New Yorker. ``If you build it, they will come.''

``Tell the truth: The busway is a transit corridor, and we need a transit corridor in the Valley for development. It's all about developers getting rich.''

Politicians insist the goal of transit-oriented development is not a blank check for taking over neighborhoods near the stations - each project would need to have land, approvals and community support.

``No City Council person in his or her right mind is going to propose to change the zoning along this line,'' said county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who has championed the Orange Line through his district.

There's enough opportunity to develop in places where higher density would fit - such as near Van Nuys or Sepulveda Boulevard stations - rather than rouse the political outrage that would come from trying to carve into single-family neighborhoods.

``You have opportunities to do things, intelligent things, that may be different from what's there now,'' Yaroslavsky said. ``You're not going to do something at Topham (Street). It's not going to happen.''

Yaroslavsky says meeting residents' concerns has been key throughout the process.

``This project can only be a complete success if not only the commuters are happy, (but) the neighbors this line goes through are happy,'' he said. ``Success is: We've offered an alternative to transit customers and preserved the quality of life along the corridor.''

But even those promoting smart growth understand Valley residents' fears - just look at the long history of developer-driven decision-making that created the Valley of today.

``People of the Valley have reason to be suspicious,'' said Valley resident Joel Kotkin, an Irvine Fellow at the New America Foundation, who helped craft the Valley's Vision 2020 blueprint for future growth.

Still, without supporting the Orange Line specifically, he says the idea of new town centers connected by a transit line seems a better plan than what's out there today.

``There are so many ways we can make the Valley a better place to live. You can't freeze a city, which is what the Valley is, in time and say, You can't do anything,'' said Kotkin.

``The problem of the Valley is it's a little bit of a case of arrested development. People grew up with a certain vision of what the Valley was and they can't adjust to the fact that we're going to have a population increase.''

The Valley ended up with the Orange Line after dreams for a subway or light rail were abandoned, killed by NIMBYs and politicians, and now prohibited by two laws.

Not quaint like Pasadena's Gold Line or as slick as the subway, the 14-mile busway between North Hollywood and Warner Center is the Valley's only major mass-transit project offering an alternative to gridlock-weary commuters.

Despite COST's success in their legal battles, the residents' work has drawn mostly scorn from residents, businesses and elected officials across the Valley who are outraged that decades of trying to get something built in the Valley could be jeopardized one year before it's to open.

``That train left the station 25 years ago or longer - at least 25 years ago - when the people voted for these transitways,'' said Scott.

``That decision's been made, bought and paid for.''

Scott said it's up to residents to shape the way they want their future neighborhoods to look.

``The city can do what the city wants to do. If the city proves to be insensitive to local community needs that would be the fault of not electing the right politicians,'' he said.

``It's probably one of the great pillars of democracy, that people on a local level are able to plan, not only their own home, but their community somewhat.''

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- 2 -- color) Construction of the San Fernando Valley's Orange Line busway has been halted by protests from residents along its route, leaving many portions, like the section along Oxnard Street, top, far from completion. In other areas, such as along Owensmouth Avenue in Woodland Hills, above, workers are completing only enough work to reduce safety hazards.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color) Orange Line busway construction is on hold, leaving most of it unfinished, like this Chandler Boulevard segment.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer