Lake Balboa, CA

Lake Balboa is bordered by Encino to the south, Van Nuys to the east, Reseda to the west, and Northridge and North Hills to the north.

It is named for a 27-acre artificial lake in Anthony C. Beilenson Park created out of farm land in the early 1990s. The park is part of a recreational park adjacent to the Balboa Park Golf Course. The park has abundant fish, birds, mature flowering trees and scenic open and covered picnic areas. The lake is supplied with water from the Donald C. Tillman Water Reclamation Plant, operated by the city's Bureau of Sanitation.

There was debate about the official recognition of Lake Balboa as a community by the City of Los Angeles. The reason stems from the fact that the community of Lake Balboa was created by Councilman Dennis Zine in 2002 before the existence of any formal community naming process. As a result, the community of Lake Balboa was created under the best practices known at the time. It was only later, in January 2006, that the City of Los Angeles adopted a formal community naming process (City of Los Angeles Council File Number 02-0196). This debate had important implications for the official existence of many other Los Angeles communities that were created prior to January 2006. These communities include Arleta, North Hills, Porter Ranch, Valley Glen, Valley Village, West Hills, Winnetka, and many others.

On November 2, 2007 the City Council of Los Angeles approved a motion renaming a larger portion of Van Nuys to Lake Balboa. The new boundaries are as follows:

* I-405 from where it meets US-101 north to Saticoy Street,
* Saticoy Street west to Valjean Avenue,
* Valjean Avenue south to Vanowen Street,
* Vanowen Street west to Hayvenhurs Avenue,
* Hayvenhurst Avenue north to Saticoy Street,
* Saticoy Street west to Balboa Boulevard,
* Balboa Boulevard north to Balboa Place and then north to Roscoe Boulevard,
* Roscoe Boulevard west to Louise Avenue (south side of Roscoe Boulevard from Balboa Boulevard to Louise Avenue will remain in Northridge with the 91325 zip code),
* Louise Avenue south to Saticoy Street (east side of Louise Avenue from Roscoe Boulevard to Stagg Street will remain Northridge with the 91325 zip code),
* Saticoy Street west to White Oak Avenue,
* White Oak Avenue south to Victory Boulevard,
* Victory Boulevard east to Balboa Boulevard,
* Balboa Boulevard south to the Los Angeles River,
* The Los Angeles River southeasterly to where US-101 and I-405 meet.

These new boundaries were the compromise plan worked out with Los Angeles City Councilpersons Greig Smith (CD12) and Tony Cardenas (CD6) that kept Van Nuys Airport and the predominately industrial area north of Saticoy Street east of the airport in Van Nuys.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Balboa,_Los_Angeles,_California