Trio of monorail plans braking to a screeching halt: funding fades for Beverly Hills, Burbank, valley lines.

The Beverly Hills City Council will soon reconsider, and is expected to approve, contributing to the funding of a study on a proposal to develop a Westside monorail.

Although the OK from the City of Beverly Hills would mean the $80,000 feasibility study is back on, the prospects for construction of any of the trio of monorail proposals, on various government tables, are looking gloomier with the passing months.

The City of Burbank has decided to go ahead with Phase Two of its monorail study, but when the study is finished it will "go on a shelf" for some time, said Burbank City Manager Bud Ovrom.

And the Metropolitan Transportation Authority last month revealed there was no money in its proposed 10-year budget plan to begin construction of a San Fernando Valley rail line along the Ventura (101) Freeway.

"Things have changed significantly in transportation funding throughout California," said Ed Friedrichs, vice president and managing principal at Gensler & Associates Architects of Santa Monica, which has been conducting the studies and advocating monorails to ease traffic congestion in Los Angeles County for some time.

"These are things that take great patience and great time," he said.

Gensler & Associates first went before the Beverly Hills City Council with its monorail ideas in the summer of 1992. At the same time, the company was preparing a feasibility study for the City of Burbank.

Gensler's plan envisions a trio of interlocked monorails stretching south from the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport to Los Angeles International Airport, east-west from Burbank through Universal City to the San Fernando Valley, and northeast from Westwood, through Century City and Beverly Hills to Hollywood. The system would hook into other MTA-planned mass transit systems on the west side of town.

* Westside Monorail

The Beverly Hills City Council tentatively agreed last year to put $10,000 toward an $80,000 feasibility study on a Westside Monorail, if six other sponsors could be found (with Gensler as the eighth).

After Gensler & Associates found the other sponsors -- Pacific Design Center, Maguire Thomas Partners, Century City Marketplace, JMB Urban Development, UCLA and the City of West Hollywood as lead, contracting sponsor -- the City of Beverly Hills suddenly pulled out early this month.

Mayor Maxwell Salter was quoted as saying there was "no way" that Beverly Hills residents would accept a monorail running along Santa Monica Boulevard.

But Beverly Hills City Manager Mark Scott said he "has satisfied myself that there's a commitment there that I think we should go forward with." He said he will ask the council to pay its share of the study.

The council meets next on July 20, but Scott said the item more likely would come up Aug. 3.

In anticipation of Beverly Hills changing its mind, the City of West Hollywood this month signed a contract with Gensler & Associates as lead agency on the study, contingent on Beverly Hills rejoining the group, Friedrichs said.

He said he was told it is very likely that the council members "are going to reinstate their support for the study."

Scott said he is "hopeful we can demonstrate that we've made a commitment to this."

Opposition remains, however, among Beverly Hills residents who are concerned about the potential visual and sound impacts of a monorail in their community, Scott conceded.

* Ventura Freeway Alignment

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority staff revealed at a budget workshop last month that, although a rail line (likely a monorail) along the Ventura Freeway is still part of the 30-year plan, there is no funding in the budget to begin construction anytime in the next 10 years.

Board member Nick Patsaouras, alternate representative for County Supervisor Mike Antonovich, was outraged.

Last week, Patsaouras vowed to continue fighting for the San Fernando Valley rail line. He said there was a possibility of finding federal funds to pay 50 percent of the construction costs.

"I don't think anyone is solid on anything. Everybody is trying to protect their territory," Patsaouras said of the board's budget negotiations.

He said hope remains for San Fernando Valley rail line funding "as long as I'm alive."

The MTA budget is scheduled for approval on July 28.

* Burbank Monorail

The City of Burbank spent $250,000 on a monorail feasibility and environmental impact study last year.

But this year, asked to rank priorities on a 150-item work program list, all the city council members gave item 19 -- completing phase two of the study -- the lowest possible grade.

Ovrom said the city will proceed with the study because it has already signed contracts with Gensler, but once the study is completed, the proposal will be shelved.

"We'll play out the hand. We'll finish the study. It will sit on a shelf," said Ovrom. "Right now, our priority is the Glendale-Burbank light rail project (under consideration for funding by the MTA). If things change, the monorail study is a document that still has some viability."