Wrong Course for Big Tujunga

To look at it, the Big Tujunga Wash hardly seems worth saving. Junk litters the boulder-strewn stream bed as it winds down out of the mountains. Scraps of trash hang from shrub branches and graffiti scars the dramatic vista up the canyon. So it’s easy to understand why supporters of a golf course in the wash believe the project is the last, best hope for a neglected patch of land.

Since 1987, attempts to build a golf course in the wash near Sunland have been stymied by concerns over the threat of flooding and the preservation of an endangered flower. Although current designs for the course have been considerably scaled down and set aside a preserve for the tiny spineflower, the project would forever change a unique piece of Southern California.

The city Planning Commission approved the project last year, but opponents appealed to the City Council. At a hearing of the council’s land-use committee last week, Councilman Joel Wachs listened intently to both supporters and opponents. Wachs’ position on the project is critical because he represents the area and the full council is likely to defer to his wishes. Wachs rightly noted that the arguments on both sides are sincere and carefully reasoned. Nonetheless, the project is still in the wrong place.

The Tujunga Wash represents one of L.A.’s last pieces of open space, a reminder of the dramatic landscape residents are charged with protecting. Yes, the wash looks terrible these days--a sad comment on our stewardship. But let’s be clear about what “saving� the wash with a golf course entails: Large swaths would be bulldozed and planted with turf. Neighbors would gain a pleasant view, but the wash as an ecological habitat would be lost forever.

Perhaps the golf course is inevitable. Barring an unlikely last-minute deal to purchase the land outright, Wachs and the council will probably tack on some conditions in an effort to appease conservationists and then approve the project. The alternative--allowing the developer to build the homes the land is zoned to accommodate--is even more unpalatable to the city. Approving homes in a flood zone leaves the council legally vulnerable.

When they decide, though, council members need to know what they’re voting for. This is not a preservation plan to save an endangered habitat. This is a development plan to bury that habitat under a golf course.