Orange Line extension to force Valley businesses to relocate

Orange Line extension to force Valley businesses to relocate - LA Daily News

Orange Line extension to force Valley businesses to relocate
By Sue Doyle, Staff Writer
Updated: 05/04/2009 06:47:32 PM PDT

Bob Jacobi, left, and his father Charles Jacobi stand along the area they would loose to the busway expansion.

Plans to extend the Orange Line a few miles up Canoga Avenue to the Chatsworth Metrolink Station requires uprooting scores of businesses along the street. The businesses have leases with the MTA and have long been put on notice about the plans.

In this case, the MTA wants to take 24 feet of Bob Jacobi's lot. Jacobi says that could run his business into the ground, because it takes away precious storage area for his boulders, brick and other materials. He said it's not like he can stack up boulders in another area, because they are so heavy.

His businesses was started by his dad Charles and has been at that location for 50 years. (Dean Musgrove/Staff Photographer)





CANOGA PARK - For 50 years, Jacobi Building Materials has sold tons of stone, stacks of brick and 60 varieties of landscaping pebbles to contractors and do-it-yourselfers.

But plans for a four-mile extension of the Orange Line busway to Chatsworth could shave a 24-foot-wide strip off the Jacobi lot at Vanowen Street and Canoga Avenue.

Aside from eliminating the land where Jacobi stores its heavy inventory, the $225 million busway will also force about 60 businesses - used-car lots, landscaping companies and metal supply stores - to relocate from the land they lease from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

"When there are so many places going out of business either on their own or through the economy, why should the government get involved in removing more businesses?" said Bob Jacobi, who owns the shop with his 87-year-old father, Charles. "They may think that's not what they're doing, but they are."

Metro has held several community meetings on its plans to link the busway from Warner Center to the Chatsworth Metrolink station. Six months ago, it notified dozens of businesses along the east side of the industrial corridor that it would be terminating their leases.

However, the agency has analysts scouting the area for appropriate rental properties, said Thurman Hodges, of the Metro real estate department.

Hodges said Metro is paying moving expenses for 13 businesses along the right-of-way that have long-term leases
and also is paying the difference in their new rental rates.

"We realize how difficult it is for businesses to relocate," Hodges said.

Ground is scheduled to be broken in June for the busway, with completion expected by 2013. The project include a $28 million bridge that will span Lassen Street and the railroad tracks before terminating in the Metrolink parking lot.

Many business owners complain that relocating now will further hurt a bottom line that has been weakened
Green Light Auto Dealer at the corner of Canoga Ave. and Roscoe Blvd. in Canoga Park.

Plans to extend the Orange Line a few miles up Canoga Avenue to the Chatsworth Metrolink Station requires uprooting scores of businesses along the street. The businesses have leases with the MTA and have long been put on notice about the plans. (Dean Musgrove/Staff Photographer)
by the recession.

Several have found that rental costs for new locations are much higher than they're paying now. And they fear the move will drive away customers who know today exactly where to find them to buy their tires, sinks and shrubs.

Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, said it's unfortunate that some businesses are directly in the path of the proposed busway.

But he said the expanded busway will help hundreds of Valley businesses by increasing transportation options for their staff.

"It's important to get your workforce around on transportation systems," Waldman said. "And this adds a benefit."

Scott Cohen, who for 14 years has owned the green-painted Green Scene at Vanowen and Canoga, said the move in June will come at the start of his busiest season - when customers are shopping for sprinklers, gazebos and outdoor lighting.

"The timing couldn't be worse," said Cohen, who has not yet found a new location.

Down the street, general manager Steven Jones is preparing to relocate his truck-rental company S.T. Rent-It Inc., and Canoga Imports, where 50 used cars from Jaguars to Nissans are for sale.

Jones said Metro has provided listings for new sites, but that the prices are too high and the lots too small.

"It's going to have a devastating effect on our business," Jones said.

Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Development Corp., said relocating companies - especially in retail - causes significant business disruptions. But, like Waldman, he noted that the busway expansion also provides a much-needed transportation amenity for the Valley.

"No matter where they put the extension, there would be complaints about where they put it," Kyser said.

Metro spokesman Dave Sotero said tenants along the planned busway alignment have known for years about the project.

Sotero said that although the expansion project occurs during bad economic times, it's expected to spur scores of construction jobs, a boon to out-of-work Valley residents.

"We are in difficult economic times," Sotero said. "But this project will create jobs and opportunities."