DWP OFFERS OPTIONS FOR CHATSWORTH RESERVOIR.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

The Department of Water and Power offered seven options Friday for the little-used 1,300 acres of Chatsworth Reservoir - from a vast expanse of open space to a 2,400-home development that could net the city $100 million.

The preferred proposals would preserve the DWP land - center of contentious debate for years - for a mix of uses for recreation and sports activities around a nature preserve lush in plants and animals.

One of the last and largest untrammeled spaces in the city, the site has been claimed as a natural haven by homeowners and environmentalists, and envisioned as a sports center by youth athletic advocates - options that the long-awaited DWP report addresses.

The report comes a year after City Councilman Hal Bernson pressed the DWP to lease the property to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

The commission balked at that order, insisting on studying other uses for the site including sports fields, residential and limited commercial development. The resulting 40-page report, detailing escalating levels of development, goes before the City Council on Tuesday.

``The purpose of the document is to be a starting ground for public discussion, whether that discussion starts out with the commission or the council, so that there's at least a basis for what happens there,'' said commission President Rick Caruso. ``And it may be that nothing happens there, which has been the case for 40 years.''

Bernson said that's the only alternative he will support.

While he had not seen the report Friday afternoon, he said, he opposes any use of the reservoir and believes the report won't break the yearlong deadlock between the council and DWP Commission.

``We're stalemated with each other,'' he said. ``They're not about, at this stage of the game, to go ahead and lease it to the conservancy, and we're not going to do anything else with it.''

While the first alternative in the report would be leaving the site as is - fenced, gated and little used - subsequent options include limited development of hiking trails and picnic areas with a small portion sold off for housing, opening the entire site for hiking and picnicking and adding some soccer and girls' softball fields, construction of a recreational lake and equestrian center, two options for golf courses and finally a master-planned community.

While the report makes no final recommendations, it suggests that less intensive use would be preferable.

``The special value of the reservoir property would seem to lie in an open, accessible but relatively undeveloped state,'' the report states. ``In the more developed scenarios, the most significant character of the site, its vast undeveloped expanse, would be lost to a developed use.''

Commissioners said they agree that a housing tract, or even golf courses, would be inappropriate.

``I am very strongly in favor of preserving it very similar to the position it's in right now,'' said DWP Commissioner Dominick Rubalcava.

``I have no interest in housing, and I have no interest in what I would call dramatic modifications to the landscape. I believe that it is an incredibly beautiful facility.''

They feel that preserving the reservoir in its natural state would not exclude other recreational uses.

``In general, my thoughts would be that the first order of priority would be preserving what needs to be preserved,'' he said.

``The second would be if there are some complementary uses that would still respect the environmental sensitivity there while making it more accessible to the public. I would not advocate any kind of intensive development of the property.''

The uses outlined in the report could generate revenue from $1 million per year for horse stables or $3.6 million for a golf course, to as much as $100 million for the residential community.

The report states that current maintenance of the reservoir costs $250,000 annually, while recreational use of the site would roughly double that cost to $400,000 to $500,000 a year. That additional expense might be covered by a facility like an equestrian center, it stated.

Although Caruso said in an interview last year that the department's $7.5 billion debt and the site's $50 million real estate value would play a role in the decision, he said Friday that he only seeks to recoup the costs of maintaining the reservoir.

``If there's funds that can be created from this site that can then be used to enhance the site, so that it wasn't a burden to the department or a burden to the tax roll, that may be worth doing,'' he said.

RESERVOIR PROPOSALS

Here are some DWP options for Chatsworth Reservoir:

Preserving the area as open space.

Limited development of hiking trails and picnic areas with a small portion sold for housing.

Recreation lake and equestrian center.

Hiking trails and athletic fields.

Master-planned community with 2,400 homes.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Map, Box

PHOTO Some of the DWP's long-awaited proposals for the Chatsworth Reservoir would preserve the open space.

John McCoy/Daily News

BOX: RESERVOIR PROPOSALS (see text)

MAP: CHATSWORTH RESERVOIR