A 25-year Carthay Circle resident, Alex Worman said he’s looking forward to the Purple Line Extension’s completion for easier access to downtown L.A., and for a possible Crenshaw Northern Extension that could make West Hollywood more accessible. But he and several of his neighbors said they’re worried the proposed routes for a Crenshaw extension would require building light rail on Carthay’s stretch of San Vicente Boulevard, with especially damaging effects on the 0.5-square-mile community.

“Carthay Circle is one of the last vestiges of a quaint, planned community with a lot of historical significance,” said Worman, adding he supports another proposed route up La Brea Avenue.

A few other residents from Carthay Circle, one of Carthay’s three historic preservation overlay zones, voiced their concerns during a meeting about options for Metro’s Crenshaw Northern Extension on April 25 at Pan Pacific Park, hosted by the Mid City West Community Council and Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council. Representatives from Metro and planners from the city of West Hollywood, where residents and city leaders have been pushing to bring light rail through the city as soon as possible, were also in attendance.

None of the major factions involved, including Metro, Los Angeles or West Hollywood, has endorsed a route yet. But Carthay Circle residents are taking a preemptive stand against a potential above-ground light rail in the neighborhood, which has a preservation plan to keep the streets uncluttered.

“This whole neighborhood was built on the premise of not having [above-ground] wires or signs or billboards,” said Brent Kidwell, president of the Carthay Circle Neighborhood Association and a 13-year resident.

The Carthay Circle Neighborhood Association will discuss taking a formal position on its preferred alignment, he added.

West Hollywood residents who attended a community meeting hosted by Metro at the West Hollywood library in March seemed to prefer the San Vicente route, which would go north to Santa Monica Boulevard, then head east down Santa Monica to Hollywood. The West Hollywood City Council is in the process of gathering more feedback from residents about their preferred options.

The logistics of the proposed extension, such as which segments will be underground, at street level or above the street, are to be determined and depend on which route is chosen. In response to concerns that West Hollywood is positioning itself to reap most of the benefits, West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tem Lindsey Horvath said the city wouldn’t expect other parts of L.A. to endure impacts of construction that West Hollywood wouldn’t also endure.

Last summer, Metro presented four alignments for extending the Crenshaw/LAX Line that would pass through West Hollywood en route to the Hollywood/Highland station: via San Vicente, La Cienega, Fairfax or La Brea. A fifth non-West Hollywood option would extend the line to the Wilshire/Vermont station, but it was the lowest-performing in terms of ridership and other projected metrics. Metro did not recommend further consideration of that option.

Joanna Hankamer and David Fenn, planners for the city of West Hollywood, said the city is focusing on how to generate the funding it would have to contribute to make one of the West Hollywood options possible. The La Brea route has the lowest estimated cost, at $3 billion, but the population and job density immediately surrounding it is lower than the other three, which would range in cost from $4.3 billion to $4.7 billion, according to Metro’s feasibility study.

Approximately $2.3 billion would be funded from Measure M, which was approved by county voters in November 2016 and added a 0.5% sales tax for transportation. West Hollywood’s share of the costs could total $70 million to $550 million (5% to 25% of the portion that goes through the city), to accelerate the project’s original 2041 start date, for potential completion in time for the 2028 Olympics. The final figure depends on the route that is chosen and other variables.

Metro is conducting outreach and gathering public feedback as part of a screening study to select the routes that will be studied further in an environmental review process that will being early next year.