Boeing moving some Canoga offices to De Soto site.

A month after officials at The Boeing Co. said they were nearing a decision on whether to consolidate two Canoga Park facilities, the company is relocating several departments from one facility to the other.

Although officials at Boeing's Rocketdyne Propulsion and Power plant on Canoga Avenue deny any pending closures, they have confirmed the company is relocating several of its departments there, including some administration and machinists, to its facility on De Soto Avenue.

"It's simply a way of handling the workload," said John Mitchell, Rocketdyne spokesman.

The actual move will take place after expansion plans at the De Soto Avenue facility, now underway, are completed, Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the exact details of the Canoga Park expansion plans were not available but scheduled for completion within a few months.

Byron Wood, general manager and vice president of Rocketdyne will relocate his offices to the DeSoto facility, as will the company's media relations department, including Mitchell's offices and six workers, which have been anchored at the Canoga Avenue facility for about 50 years, Mitchell said.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Transit Authority and Boeing are reported to be in final negotiations to allow the MTA to purchase a small triangular chunk of property at the northwest corner of Canoga Avenue and Vanowen Street to build a park-and-ride facility for the Orange Line, the city's new name for the long-awaited East-West Valley Busway, set for completion in fall of 2005.

"That's all but a done deal," said City Councilman Dennis Zine, who has been pushing for a park-and-ride to accommodate riders who may want to use the Orange Line to get from the west end of the Valley to other locations.

Rumor's have swirled about a potential move by Boeing from the Valley to other states over the last few years. But Mitchell and others have said the company has no intention of relocating any of its four Valley facilities, and insists the current reshuffling is merely a way to spread out resources where they are needed most, not a move toward any closures.

"This doesn't involve any layoffs," Mitchell said. "I know people (at Boeing) that have moved several times over the years, and it has to do with workload. We're not abandoning (the Canoga Avenue location)."