BUS WAY RUNS OVER LIFE AT 100 SITES.

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

Lease-termination notices have gone out to more than 100 businesses and residents along the route of the planned East-West Busway across the San Fernando Valley, giving most of them until year's end to move out.

Terry Lumber in Tarzana, which has supplied goods for generations of residents, will have to give up the lease on its prime location at Reseda and Oxnard boulevards to make way for a bus station. Others will hand back portions of their leased land - a parking lot here, a slice of back yard there - for the new era in public transportation.

Julia Haviland, 79-year-old owner and manager of a hodgepodge of Fulton Avenue storefronts and apartments on property that she had planned to pass on to her children, is among a handful who will have to sell their land.

``It's been a very, very sweet location - kind of an icon in the community,'' said Mark Ernsberger, general manager of Terry Lumber in Tarzana, whose operations will be consolidated with those at the company's other locations.

``It is going to leave a hole in this part of the Valley. ... There's nothing else like that around,'' he said about the business, one of few given an extension through March to move.

Others are looking ahead to 2005, when Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials expect to launch the 14-mile bus way, designed to ferry passengers from North Hollywood to Warner Center in 40 minutes or less.

``It impacts a lot of people negatively, ... businesses and stuff, (but) it looks like it's going to be very, very nice,'' said Dan Lyle, director of operations for the Salvation Army, which is losing a parking lot.

The MTA board gave its approval last spring to the $325 million project. Buses will run in a dedicated lane - they won't have to compete with through traffic - along an old rail route running parallel to Burbank, Chandler and Victory boulevards.

The route will have 13 stops, primarily at major intersections, and will include a bicycle lane.

Some residents along the planned route have filed a lawsuit saying safety issues were not fully addressed in the required environmental study on the project, which they call inadequate. A court hearing is set for December, but the MTA is proceeding with plans to begin construction in the spring.

``We recognize that construction of the east-west transit way will impact some businesses and residents along the route, and we will do our best to lessen that impact,'' Jim de la Loza, the MTA's executive officer for countywide planning, said in a printed statement.

``When the transit way opens in 2005, San Fernando Valley residents will have an efficient and cost-effective option to the gridlock that plagues the 101 Freeway and most of the major east-west streets.''

The MTA bought the rail right-of-way a decade ago and entered month- to-month leases with the bulk of the tenants along the route.

The agency needs 50 feet on either side of the centerline - and more at intersections where stations will be - and has earmarked $21 million for real estate costs.

The agency sent out letters last spring, notifying tenants their land would be needed, and again in the summer, giving tenants a September deadline to vacate.

In all, 35 of the tenants have vacated and 60 others have been granted lease extensions - most of them until Dec. 31, a few until March 31. Unresolved issues remain on a few properties, MTA officials said.

Only a small number of tenants - those who had leased the land before the MTA acquired it - qualify for relocation payments that will cover costs such as moving inventory and printing new stationery, MTA officials said. The rest will receive only the help of a consultant in finding new places to rent.

In addition, the agency will buy land from four property owners along the route.

``We try to be understanding and, in many cases, try to understand it's their livelihood,'' said Velma Marshall, director of real estate for the MTA. ``In many cases, it will be a hardship. We will try to balance that with our need of having the property vacated.''

Terry Lumber, a fixture in Tarzana for 50 years, will move its prime lumber business from the site at Reseda and Oxnard boulevards to three of its other locations, relocate its sash-and-door store and move its corporate headquarters to San Fernando, Ernsberger said. The changes will force the relocation of 35 employees from the Tarzana location and could ultimately affect 175 workers companywide.

While company officials knew the lumber yard was on leased land, they had always figured any mass-transit project was years away, Ernsberger added.

``There's been talk about a light-rail line through the Valley for a long time,'' he said. ``Our understanding had always been ... if it ever happened, it would be so far down the road.''

Others along the route will see a portion of their property lost with the leases.

The Valley Jewish Community Center on Burbank Boulevard will lose a chunk of its parking lot, forcing the center to reconfigure operations.

``It's going to seriously inhibit what we're going to be able to do here,'' said Marla Minden, director of the center that serves 200 children and as many as 100 senior citizens each weekday.

``I'd like to close my eyes and wish it wasn't happening, but I don't think that's going to be the case.''

The Salvation Army on Van Nuys Boulevard, the biggest branch in the Valley, also will lose a parking lot that serves as a staging area for the trucks and trailers that bring in donations and carry items to thrift stores across Los Angeles.

The Salvation Army's Lyle said the organization expects to spend $60,000 to reconfigure its lot, but is also looking for new space to rent.

``We'll run it one way or another; it's God's will,'' he said. ``It'll be difficult, inconvenient to employees, but we will.''

Volkswagen of Van Nuys, which recently underwent a $1 million renovation, is losing its display lot for 120 vehicles, leaving it able to show only 10 to 15 cars. Customers will have to be shuttled to a location about a mile away to view the rest of the cars.

``We feel abandoned,'' said general sales manager Mark White. ``I certainly think the MTA could have assisted a little more in the relocation process in terms of trying to help the businesses in the area find suitable relocation. They're being left in the cold.''

Others are simply resigned to the changes.

Haviland and her husband bought property on Fulton Avenue 30 years ago as an investment for their children. The property includes a couple of storefronts, a one-bedroom house, a handful of apartment units and four garages.

``How much are they going to give me? I have my own ideas of how much it means to me,'' Haviland said.

She said she was disappointed because she felt that she had finally hit her stride as a property owner with lessons learned over the years - such as knowing how to maintain the property efficiently and when to raise the rents.

``Finally, when you learn how to do it all, they want to take it away from you,'' she said. ``I'm not young, I'm 79 years old, so it's not good for me.''

CAPTION(S):

photo, map

Photo:

Mark Ernsberger, general manager of Terry Lumber's yard and other operations, located in Tarzana for 50 years, will have to move all business off the site to other locations to make way for a Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus station.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer

Map:

MAKING WAY FOR THE BUS WAY

SOURCE: Los Angeles County Assessor's Office, 2000; MTA, 2000

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