MTA to Press U.S. for Valley Rail Line Funds : Transportation: Shrinking local tax revenues prompt the transit agency’s move.

Strapped for cash, a Los Angeles County transportation panel voted Wednesday to ask the federal government to help bail out a planned San Fernando Valley rail line that might otherwise be delayed up to 10 years due to shrinking mass transit dollars.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority voted unanimously to instruct its staff to begin the process of applying for federal funds to pay for half of an east-west line across the valley that could cost as much as $2.79 billion.

The proposal, offered by Nick Patsaouras of Tarzana, an MTA alternate member, was described by transportation officials as a realistic attempt to obtain money desperately needed to make up for dwindling revenues due to the state’s stubborn recession.

“It offers some possibility of providing help for the San Fernando Valley,” said County Supervisor Ed Edelman, an MTA member who represents parts of the Valley.

Financial problems for the Valley line arose in June when MTA members discovered that shrinking tax revenues meant construction of the Valley line would have to be postponed for up to 10 years unless other funding sources were found. Previously, construction was to begin in early 1995 and the first phase was to be completed by 2000.

The delay would have pushed back the line’s opening to 2010.

In another action that improved the Valley line’s prospects, the MTA approved a $3.7-billion fiscal 1993-94 budget that preserved $438 million in state funding for the Valley line. The MTA staff had previously suggested that the money for the Valley line be diverted to launch a light rail line to Pasadena.

The MTA board also voted to meet in September to review the status of the Valley line and discuss possible funding options, including federal grants, to keep the project on track.

Although transportation officials have in the past discussed federal funding for the Valley line, no request was made because the federal government is already paying half the cost of the $5.4-billion Metro Red Line subway and MTA officials did not want to appear to be asking for too much.

But even if the federal funding is approved, MTA officials say it is unclear whether the first phase of an east-west Valley line could still open on schedule.

The route that such an east-west line would follow is still the subject of a long-running debate between backers of two alternatives: a mostly subway line parallel to Burbank and Chandler boulevards and an elevated rail line over Ventura Freeway.

A decision on that dispute is expected next year after final engineering and soil studies are completed to answer some remaining questions about the feasibility of both alternatives.

Supervisor Mike Antonovich, a longtime MTA member who supports building a monorail in the Valley, said he believes that the federal government would be more likely to fund an elevated freeway line because it would cost less to build and operate.

He called the decision to request federal funding a “positive step forward.”

In other Valley-related action, MTA members rejected a proposal by Patsaouras to delay for nine months the construction of a 2-mile Metro Red Line subway extension from Universal City to North Hollywood. Patsaouras argued that the extension would not make financial sense if the MTA chooses to build the elevated line from Universal City to Woodland Hills--which would make the North Hollywood subway a “dogleg” leading nowhere.

He said construction of the extension should be delayed until the MTA decides between the two alternatives for the cross-Valley route. MTA officials had planned on awarding a construction contract by November.

But other MTA officials said any delay or redesign of the North Hollywood extension would jeopardize the line’s federal funding agreements and violate promises to North Hollywood property owners who anticipate a major redevelopment project to accompany the North Hollywood extension.

“I think the Valley has the opinion that they are second-class citizens and I think this will enforce that feeling,” said newly appointed MTA member Mel Wilson.

The MTA also heard testimony from a group of Universal City condominium owners who urged MTA officials to purchase their property next to the planned Universal City station and use it to build a parking lot. The condo owners fear their property values will drop once the lengthy construction period for the station begins.

“We are deeply concerned about having to live with eight to 10 years of this construction nightmare,” said Ronni Rice, a condo owner representing the Terrace on the Park and Universal Park condominium complexes. “Not only are we being totally isolated and having our entire neighborhood taken away from us, but our property values have been completely diminished.”

MTA officials said a study is being done to evaluate whether the property should be purchased.

In adopting the $3.7-billion budget, a compromise crafted by Mayor Richard Riordan, the MTA also set aside $40 million to pay for design of a 13.6-mile Pasadena rail line.

“The Pasadena line was the single most difficult issue relating to adopting the budget,” said Franklin White, the MTA’s chief operating officer.

Under the spending plan, opening of the Pasadena line will be delayed about six months, from November, 1997, to April, 1998, said Laurence Weldon, project manager with the MTA’s construction arm, the Rail Construction Corporation.

The budget also sets aside money for:

* An additional 40 buses for the MTA’s 25 most crowded routes.

* Subsidizing current bus and train fares so increases are not necessary.

* Another 130 transit police.

* Purchasing more than 320 new buses.

Times staff writer Nora Zamichow contributed to this story.