Lack of Land Appears to Kill Reseda’s Hope for Courthouse : County Considers 6 Potential Sites Elsewhere in West Valley

A $36.9-million courthouse planned for Reseda probably will be built elsewhere in the West San Fernando Valley because of a lack of vacant land, a Los Angeles County official said Friday.

The county Board of Supervisors last year approved a master plan calling for new courthouses in Reseda and North Hollywood.

But a list of possible West Valley sites has been narrowed to six, none of them in Reseda, said Robert Quist, deputy administrator for the Los Angeles Municipal Court.

Quist would not disclose the exact locations but said they were in the northwest corner of the Valley. The final site is expected to be chosen by the end of the year, he said.

A 10-story Municipal Court opened in March in Van Nuys. But court officials believe a facility is needed in the West Valley to serve population growth there in the next several decades, Quist said. Court administrators hope to open the West Valley building by the mid-1990s, he said.

No Reseda Proposals

Reseda is not in the running because the county received no proposals from private landowners or developers there who were willing to sell to the county, Quist said. Also, he said, court officials do not believe Reseda has suitable vacant land, and building on land already in use is more expensive.

One tract of public land in Reseda that was rejected is the city-owned West Valley Park on Vanowen Street next to a police station, library and City Councilwoman Joy Picus’ district office, he said.

Picus’ opposition to construction of a courthouse on a portion of the park squelched the idea, Quist said.

Picus could not be reached for comment Friday but a spokeswoman confirmed the councilwoman’s opposition to the park site.

Picus has concluded that the West Valley needs a new courthouse but thinks it should not be in Reseda for lack of “an appropriate site that would be compatible with the community,” aide Laura Chick said.

The Reseda Chamber of Commerce, which has lobbied for a courthouse on the park site for several years, reacted with surprise and disappointment to the county’s elimination of Reseda in the site selection process.

“It astounds me,” said Ann Kinzle, executive director of the chamber.

The chamber is involved in an effort to revitalize Reseda’s deteriorating downtown. A courthouse would help by attracting restaurants, shops and offices, she said.

But Quist said county officials believe many residents would oppose a Reseda courthouse, which would have eight courtrooms, plus detention facilities for criminal case defendants.

“We’d be having rock cocaine cases, et cetera,” Quist said. “I don’t think a courthouse that does criminal is going to be what the residents want.”

Promise by Robbins

Nonetheless, at the chamber of commerce’s behest state Sen. Alan Robbins (D-Tarzana) promised to look for a suitable courthouse site in Reseda.

Robbins is the sponsor of legislation authorizing the use of court fines and bail forfeitures to pay for the court buildings in Reseda and North Hollywood.

Robbins has introduced changes in the legislation that would allow the West Valley facility to be built outside Reseda. However, he said Friday he will continue to “endeavor to work out a Reseda site that is satisfactory to the business community, the residents and the council office.”

The planned North Hollywood building would house 18 Superior Court civil courtrooms, Superior Court executive officer Frank Zolin said. It is projected to cost between $70 million and $75 million, he said.

The site is expected to be in North Hollywood near the intersection of Chandler and Lankershim boulevards. The precise location will be determined within a year, he said.

The Board of Supervisors would have to approve the sites and authorize construction before either building could be built, Quist said.