PROJECT UNDER WAY; COST OVERRUNS, DELAYS DAMPEN LAKE ENTHUSIASM.

Byline: Deborah Sullivan Daily News Staff Writer

The concrete being poured into the new lake beds at Hansen Dam promises an oasis to residents who have endured blistering heat waves this summer while dreaming of fishing, boating and swimming next year.

``All the patrons that come here are really energized'' about the future lakes, said Vanessa Bailey, a gardener at the Lake View Terrace Recreation Center. ``They really can't wait until it's finished.''

Yet to others the project is a mirage, a diminished version of their original - materializing only after two years of delay and more than $5 million in cost overruns.

``It's a hell of a lot of money for next to nothing,'' said Lake View Terrace resident Tama Lockwood, riding her horse around the site in the scorching sun recently.

The 9-acre fishing and boating lake and 1-1/2-acre swim lake should be completed by April and are on schedule and on budget for this phase of construction, according to the Army Corps of Engineers, which is building the lake.

The progress doesn't allay some residents' concerns about the project's troubled history.

They wonder how the Army Corps of Engineers managed to exceed the project's original $10 million budget by more than $5 million, for a lake a fraction of the size originally proposed.

They wonder why even that much money won't pay for ``optional'' features that were standard equipment in the original plans, including beach sand, trees and picnic tables.

And they wonder why the city of Los Angeles agreed to pay at least $4.6 million for the cost overruns caused by countless changes and revisions.

City officials say they were disappointed by the excessive costs but chose to pay them to ensure that the lake gets built.

``It was felt this was a worthwhile project, and even though people felt that the Army Corps should have done a better job of managing the project, the case was made to find the funding and complete the project,'' said Steve Uranga, grants administrator for the Department of Recreation and Parks.

Ed Louie, the Army Corps of Engineers assistant project manager for the lake, said that although environmental concerns delayed the project, the final result will vindicate that decision.

``I truly believe that the citizens in Lake View Terrace are going to be proud of this lake once it's completed,'' he said.

The lake under construction replaces the 130-acre Holiday Lake, an inland center of water-skiing, canoeing, sailing, fishing and swimming until it became choked by silt and vegetation in the early 1980s.

From 1986 to 1991, the Army Corps prepared a master plan for Hansen Dam which proposed recreational improvements including replacing Holiday Lake with a 70-acre boating and fishing lake and 15-acre swim lake, as well as adding an equestrian center and other improvements.

The cost of the swim lake at that time, based on the recently built Lake Balboa in Sepulveda Basin, was estimated at $2.1 million.

But what the engineers didn't realize then was that without stringent water-quality controls, such a lake could become a petri dish for bacteria.

In fact, the lake at Santa Fe Dam in Irwindale, constructed by the corps in 1979, had been showing high coliform counts since the early 1980s, Louie said. But the corps didn't follow up on that project and was unaware of those problems when it drew up plans for Hansen Dam Lake in 1992.

``At that time, we were making the assumption that we could just easily construct the lake and that would be the end of it, but we ran into the Los Angeles County Health Department, and they said the rules have changed,'' Louie said. ``They said the swim lake would have to meet swimming pool standards.''

To accommodate that requirement, the corps in 1993 drew up plans to split the lake into two sections: a 13-acre boating lake and 2-acre swim lake. A year later, the city decided that maintaining those lakes would be too costly, Louie said. So the corps scaled them down again to 9 and 1.5 acres in 1994.

While the changes and revisions were taking place, the lake's opening, once scheduled for December 1996 was pushed back to April 1999.

At each phase of the process, the corps racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars on plans, designs and specifications that were scrapped after the corps revised them several times.

The original agreement specified that the corps and the city would each pay $5 million for the lake. But as expenses mounted, it became clear that costs would exceed $10 million.

And according to a 1995 contract between them, the city would pay anything beyond that.

``We had the choice of waiting for Congress to provide more money or finding the money through the city,'' said Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, who represents the Lake View Terrace area. ``So the city was really over the barrel.''

By 1997, the city's share of the project had ballooned from $5 million to $9.6 million, paid for by Proposition A, a county recreation bond.

Of the lake's $15.8 million budget, $4.2 million is going to administrative expenses, while $10.6 million is paying for construction, according to a breakdown prepared by the corps.

An additional $982,000 added by Congress last October is not budgeted for specific use yet, Louie said.

But even that didn't cover everything. Some of the plan's original features, including a parking lot, beach sand at the lake shore, trees, picnic furniture and fishing platforms, were redesignated as ``options'' that the city could pay for separately.

James Ward, principal grounds maintenance supervisor for the Department of Recreation and Parks, said the city would provide trees, furniture and platforms using its own supplies and staff time, but he said no cost estimate is available yet. It will also provide beach sand, at a cost of $175,000, he said.

Two boat docks and a third restroom were also deemed options but have since been added back into the construction contract, Louie said. The parking lot may also be included in the contract, he said.

Residents, including the Hansen Dam Advisory Committee, grew alarmed earlier this year at the shrinking project and escalating costs, and considered requesting that construction be halted until those expenses were justified. However, they were assuaged by the Army Corps' explanation of those costs and its assurances that construction is proceeding as planned.

Uranga said the city is now working with the corps to keep costs down in hopes of conserving enough money in the existing lake budget to pay for the options without additional city funds.

Recreation and Parks Commissioner Steve Soboroff defended the Army Corps' performance, saying the cost overruns were understandable given the complexity of the project and the spiraling labor costs in Los Angeles.

``It's not like you're building a McDonald's here, or a recreational building,'' he said. ``We're building a lake. It's a one-of-a kind project. And when it's finished, the critics will be out there boating around.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 2 maps

PHOTO (1) Concrete is poured on the cascade area of the 9-acre fishing and boating lake under construction at the Hansen Dam Recreation Center.

(2) Parks department gardener Vanessa Bailey looks forward to improvements at the dam.

Tama Lockwood rides her horse near the construction site of the recreation area.

Michael Owen Baker/Daily News

Map: (1) Hansen Dam Recreational Lake

(2) Hansen Dam Recreational Lake