Sunset Blvd. Plan Hits Roadblock : Traffic safety: Judge orders the city to prepare an environmental report. Opponents say widening the stretch of road will turn it into a speedway. : PACIFIC PALISADES

By JOSH MEYER

Oct. 10, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

A judge has overturned the City of Los Angeles’ approval of a controversial project to improve a dangerous stretch of Sunset Boulevard in Pacific Palisades, saying the city must first prepare an environmental impact report.

The ruling by Judge Ronald M. Sohigian of the Los Angeles Superior Court was hailed by area homeowner groups opposed to the city’s plans to alter the road.

“We think this is a victory for all residents and citizens in this area, and for everyone who travels along Sunset Boulevard,” said Michael Franklin, a spokesman for the Sunset West Homeowners Assn., one of two homeowner groups that sued the city. “We think this project was ill-conceived and makes little sense.”

In his Sept. 26 ruling, Sohigian said the city should have done the environmental report before approving the project. State law requires such a study whenever a project has the potential to significantly harm the environment.

“There is substantial evidence in the record . . . that there will be a significant environmental impact,” Sohigian concluded. “Hence, there was a prejudicial abuse of discretion” by the City Council, “and they did not proceed in the manner required by law.”

City officials are considering an appeal of Sohigian’s ruling, but have made no decision yet, according to a deputy to Councilman Marvin Braude, who represents the area and was a prime supporter of the road project.

The city has proposed widening a particularly problem-plagued, half-mile stretch of Sunset, putting in a left turn lane at Las Lomas Avenue, and a divider lane in the center of Sunset between Las Lomas and Baylor Street. It also wants to remove the concrete divider at the entrance to Marquez Avenue from Sunset, saying the improvements would make the stretch of roadway safer.

Many area residents, united under the Pacific Palisades Residents Assn. and the Sunset West group, demanded an environmental report. When the city adopted a negative declaration saying the study wasn’t needed because there would be no significant adverse environmental impact, the two groups filed suit last December.

The critics argued that the improvements would make the stretch of 35 m.p.h. roadway into a speedway, prompting even more collisions because drivers would no longer have to slow down for cars making some left turns. They demanded that the city take steps to prevent speeding in the area, and that it coordinate traffic lights, remove telephone poles and establish other safety measures.

The critics also argued that the improvements would, in effect, be self-defeating, because they would attract more traffic to Sunset. Some also contended that increasing the capacity of Sunset Boulevard was prohibited by the Brentwood-Pacific Palisades Community Plan.

City engineers have acknowledged that there would be more traffic, but they said it would not be enough to affect the overall capacity of Sunset, because only one portion of the street would be widened. And they said police would be there to catch speeders.

However, representatives of the Los Angeles Police Department said during hearings on the issue that their efforts to curb speeding in the area have failed, according to the homeowner groups.

The city’s Board of Public Works at first considered requiring an environmental report, but it approved the project after Braude “rammed the project through the City Council despite vigorous opposition from the community,” according to a statement by the Palisades group.

Glenn Barr, Braude’s spokesman, said the project was approved through due process.

“It was not rammed through--it was years in the making,” said Barr. “I would suggest that a project rammed through the council would have been long since complete. This is not complete--I don’t think they’ve even begun it.”

Braude deputy Claire Rogger said some community groups opposed the changes but that others, whom she could not immediately identify, supported them.