LA CALLED `GRANDDADDY OF SPRAWL'; SIERRA CLUB CHIDES COUNTY, LAUDS STATE IN REPORT.

Byline: Dominic Berbeo Staff Writer

Calling Los Angeles ``the granddady of sprawl,'' a Sierra Club spokesman said Monday the county isn't doing enough to keep up with the transportation needs of its expanding population, or care for existing urban centers.

But California overall is doing a good job managing sprawl, ranking tenth among all states for open-space preservation, ninth for land-use planning and fifth for transportation policies, according to ``Solving Sprawl,'' a report released Monday by the Sierra Club.

But the Golden State ranked 37th in its efforts to invest in making city centers and existing communities safe, lively and healthy places to live.

``There is a flight from the inner urban areas here in Los Angeles because people feel there isn't enough being invested in quality-of-life issues,'' said Sierra Club spokesman Jim Blomquist. ``We need to be investing more in the city's core and the older suburban areas, instead of making people feel like building new neighborhoods is their only option.''

The city of Los Angeles is expected to grow from 3.6 million people to more than 4.2 million by 2010. The San Fernando Valley is estimated to grow by about 233,700 to nearly 1.5 million people by then - nearly the size of Houston.

The group's report said sprawl brings more traffic, less green space, shortages of water and ``festering conditions'' in neglected inner-city areas.

One example Blomquist gave of development on the ``outskirts of town'' is the Newhall Ranch project, which will create some 21,000 new homes for 60,000 to 70,000 people in the northern part of the Los Angeles County, on the border with Ventura County.

``L.A. is encouraging growth on a place that is currently agricultural land without keeping pace with transportation planning,'' he said. ``The two need to be linked. We need to develop some good, strong transportation corridors.''

He blamed the county Board of Supervisors for not focusing enough attention on potential traffic jams.

``It doesn't make sense to be developing housing for thousands of people in the far outreaches of the county without planning on how they're going to get to work,'' Blomquist said.

But David Vannatta, a planning deputy for Supervisor Mike Antonovich, said the county had taken traffic into account in Newhall, and the developer would share the costs of any future transportation improvements, including a possible expansion of light rail to the Santa Clarita Valley.

As part of the Newhall project approved by the county in March, a congestion management program calls for more than 30 miles of new roads within the development, as well as new and expanded connections to existing highways, said Marlee Lauffer, a spokesperson for Newhall Land and Farming Company, the developers.

``Another important factor,'' she said, ``is that many of those moving into Newhall will work close-by in the Santa Clarity Valley, and it should have a minimal impact on the commute to downtown Los Angeles.''

Still, Blomquist insisted there isn't enough regional planning in Southern California.

``The bottom line is we need to see the Board of Supervisors do more to zone areas for open space and acquire areas like the Santa Susana Mountains and Verdugo Hills as public areas safe from encroaching development,'' he said.

One key recommendation for sprawl control in the report was the creation of regional planning councils, which Los Angeles lacks.

While counties such as Ventura have policies allowing voters to decide on major housing and commercial developments, neither the city or county of Los Angeles has any such law.

Dubbing Los Angeles the ``granddaddy of sprawl,'' the Sierra Club said that in the larger metropolitan Los Angeles area, including parts of Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange and Ventura counties, 296,000 acres of open space were developed between 1982 and 1992, representing a nearly 20 percent increase during those years.

Driven by a fast-growing population, the development trends show no sign of slowing in the Southland in the near future.

The Daily News reported in December that the city's General Plan anticipates exponential development in the San Fernando Valley over the next 10 years, in order to meet the need for an estimated 150,000 new housing units.

While permits for only 132 new apartment units were taken out in the Valley in 1998, demand is anticipated to reach 35,795 new units over the next five years, according to the city's General Plan.

Yet some efforts are being implemented to revitalize existing areas in Los Angeles, Blomquist said.

He lauded efforts by the city and the Los Angeles Conservancy, a historic preservation group which has joined the National Trust for Historic Preservation to launch a ``main street programs'' to revitalize urban areas of Canoga Park, Highland Park and Leimert Park.

The Sierra Club report also set an agenda that states could follow to prevent sprawl. Half the states have taken steps to protect farms and 20 have easement programs to prevent development of agricultural land. Eleven states have approved statewide growth management plans.