Metro to Hear from Businesses It May Uproot

Metro said Wednesday it has scheduled an additional meeting to hear the deepening concerns of more than 100 Van Nuys businesses that could be displaced by a proposed train maintenance yard that would be part of an expanded transit system. “The community is saying something to us. And we hear them,” said Kimberly Upton, a spokeswoman for Metro, whose official name is the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which oversees the train and bus system. At issue is an area along the Orange Line a few blocks east of the 405 Freeway. It is bounded by Kester Avenue, Oxnard Street, Calvert Street and near Cedros Avenue. Metro has called that area Option A with an aim to clear the land and build a train maintenance yard. But businesses that would be evicted are alarmed. Kenn Phillips, chief executive of the Valley Economic Alliance, said it would potentially uproot 186 businesses that employ 1,500. He has proposed the maintenance yard be cited in a different area that would be far less disruptive to businesses. Upton said the new meeting is designed to hear the concerns of small businesses, but the public meeting is open to anyone. Since the session will be considered informational, speakers will be allowed to make longer presentations, she said. The new meeting will be Tuesday, Oct. 10, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at the Van Nuys State Building Auditorium, 6150 Van Nuys Blvd., 91401. The new train maintenance yard will be needed to serve a planned light rail line between the Van Nuys Orange Line station and the Metrolink station in Sylmar. An article about the controversy will appear in the Oct. 2 issue of the Business Journal.