POLICE PANEL PUTS OFF DECISION ON PLAN FOR 4 SATELLITE STATIONS : VOTE DELAYED ON LAPD SITES.

Byline: Patrick McGreevy Daily News Staff Writer

The Police Commission on Tuesday delayed a recommendation on opening four new police stations, including one in Encino, after the panel was caught in the middle of disagreement between City Council members representing the San Fernando Valley over the best plan to provide new stations.

The commission sent the proposal, without approval, to the council's Public Safety Committee after citing confusion caused by conflicting requests from council members Laura Chick and Mike Feuer, who are both members of the committee.

Commission President Ray Fisher said Feuer had contacted him asking that the commission not take action on the proposal because he felt it needed more study, and that Chick had contacted the commission saying the plan needed to be approved Tuesday to keep alive the chance of going to the voters in April 1997 for police funding.

``We have conflicting information,'' Fisher said.

Assistant Police Chief Bayan Lewis told the commission that the problem stems from the LAPD's decision to recommend that the city initially open only four satellite police stations as a pilot program before determining whether to open stations in other parts of the city.

``There have been some problems across the street (at City Hall) with these four that we've identified because obviously they don't meet all of the 15 (council members') needs,'' Lewis said. ``That has been one of the key areas that we've had to address. But these were not decided to meet political constraints. They were identified to meet the departments needs over the next few years.''

Commissioner Edith Perez said she also has concerns about whether limiting the pilot program to four satellite stations is the best approach.

Feuer said the concept of opening satellite stations has ``advantages that commend it,'' but that he has many questions, including how the sites of the new stations are selected and whether the city would be wiser to start the pilot program with 12 to 15 satellite stations.

Starting with only four stations may not provide enough information to determine whether the city should go ahead with a consultant's recommendation to open 30 satellite stations throughout the city.

``Satellite stations may be the wave of the future but to embark on that in such a small increment may teach us very little,'' Feuer said.

He also voiced concern that the city may not be able to find funding later to expand the pilot program.

``Pilot projects in this city have a history of being an end and not the beginning of the subject,'' Feuer said.

He also said there is a possibility of seeking a special tax in April. To only finance four stations now might force the city to go back to the voters again when it wants to fund additional stations.

That, Feuer said, ``politically may not be very effective.''

However, Chick, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, said she supports the LAPD's recommendation to start with four sites, including the Encino satellite station, which would relieve overcrowding from the West Valley Station in her district.

Although she said she is open to hearing other arguments, Chick said the department determined fairly that West Valley is one of the four most crowded stations in the city and therefore should get a satellite station to become the home base for 45 to 75 patrol officers.

``One thing I don't want to see is this degenerate into a tug of war where everyone wants one (station),'' Chick said.

The city administrative officer has concluded funding may be available from the general fund to open four satellite stations, but not any more. Chick said it may be impractical to open more and she does not want to jeopardize the pilot program in a dispute over expanding the program to serve every council district.

However, she asked for the commission to approve the four-station pilot program and send it to the council so it can be considered as part of a larger package of police facility needs that might be financed through a ballot measure in April 1997.