Plan for Sprawling Arts Park Scaled Back : Sepulveda Basin: Concerns about flood danger and preserving open space lead to revisions in proposed blueprint.

Dramatic winter floods and a torrent of public protest have persuaded a private San Fernando Valley group to scale down its proposal for a sprawling arts center in the Sepulveda Basin.

The businessmen and community leaders of the Cultural Foundation had been planning their Arts Park L.A. as an elegant, 60-acre complex of theaters, museums and workshops bordering the basin’s man-made lake.

But in February, near-record rains and flooding threatened that proposed site, just north of where stranded motorists had to be rescued by helicopters. And in seeking government approval to build the project, the foundation has caught flak from environmentalists and residents who want the basin preserved as one of Los Angeles’ largest remaining green spaces.

So new plans--which will be included in state and federal environmental reports released Friday--show an Arts Park with at least two fewer buildings. It would also be tucked tightly along the basin’s northern edge, where it would be less visible and less likely to be flooded.

“If someone on the other end of the lake looks up, they’ll see mostly trees,” said Ross Hopkins, the foundation’s executive director. “We know there will still be opposition. But we think we’ve dealt with most of the reasonable concerns.”

The revisions eliminate a proposed lakeside pavilion and food stands. An outdoor amphitheater would be set back an undetermined distance from the lake instead of being built on the shore and, like much of the complex, be hidden by trees. Nearly all the structures would stand north of the 100-Year Flood Line, which marks the land most likely to be submerged in a catastrophic flood.

But Arts Park would still have six of the eight major structures that were planned, including a natural history museum, a children’s workshop and its hotly debated centerpiece--a subterranean performing arts center with 1,800- and 500-seat theaters.

Such a complex could someday bring world-class performances to the Valley, the project’s backers contend. But first it must be awarded a long-term lease from city officials, who operate parks in the basin, and the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the flood-control plain.

Public sentiment also plays a role. Prior to the 1984 Olympic Games, protests from Valley residents kept the basin’s lake from being enlarged and completed in time to be used for rowing competition.

A 1989 Times Poll suggested that 61% of Valley residents desired arts facilities, but they weren’t so eager to have the complex on parkland. At a 1990 public hearing, shouting matches erupted between Arts Park backers and opponents--which include the Sierra Club and the Audubon Society.

Those hearings represented the early stages of a lengthy decision-making process: Whenever construction is proposed for government land, especially open space, the builder is required to study potential effects on everything from wildlife to street traffic.

The documents to be made public Friday, the first drafts of environmental impact reports required by state and federal governments, mark a midpoint. They contain alternative proposals that would move some facilities west of Balboa Boulevard, even farther from the present park.

They also consider the pros and cons of putting the complex at alternative sites, such as Hansen Dam and the Cal State Northridge campus, as mandated by environmental impact requirements.

“We would consider those other sites as a last resort,” said Hopkins, who said the drafts suggest that the alternative sites would be too small for the complex.

The drafts will be open to public comment at a second round of hearings in late August.

Even if Arts Park eventually gains approval, it remains to be seen if the Cultural Foundation can raise the $70 million needed to construct the entire project. The group says it will pursue fund raising in earnest after securing the lease.

NEXT STEP

Public hearings on the proposed Arts Park L.A. will be held at 2 and 7 p.m. on Aug. 27 at the Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center, 6337 Balboa Blvd., Encino.

The Scaling Back of Arts Park L.A. Old Proposal New Proposal 1. Natural History Museum 2. Children’s Center 3. Peforming Arts Pavilion 4. Arts Park Center 5. Media Center 6. Outdoor Amphitheater 7. Lakeside Pavillion (excluded from “New Proposal”) Approximate position of 100-year flood line. In event of catastrophic flood, everything south of this line would be under water.