Once the grading on a small piece of Army Corps land in the Sepulveda Dam basin was done, three of the four men who had paid for the work stood back to look at it. The fourth, Bob Hansing, was already riding his bicycle around the bare dirt oval. The club that runs the Encino Velodrome still tells that story. The track opened on asphalt for the 1961 season and got its concrete surface in 1963.
On Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, Mayor Karen Bass, Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, Councilmember Imelda Padilla and Assemblywoman Celeste Rodriguez gathered in front of the Balboa Sports Center to celebrate $22 million in state money for the basin. The velodrome isn't part of that money. Most of the $22 million goes to permitted fields, the walk across Victory Boulevard and fire control, all tied to the 2028 Games. The oldest permanent sports venue in the basin has a full engineering plan and is still waiting on donations.
Where the $22 Million Lands
The Daily News reported that the money comes from Proposition 4, the $10 billion climate bond California voters approved in 2024. The mayor's office release, posted Oct. 25, breaks it down further.
| Allocation | Amount | What it covers, per the city and the Daily News |
|---|---|---|
| Balboa Sports Center | $8 million | Lighting for two soccer fields, new shade structures |
| Hjelte Sports Fields | $4 million | Field improvements, shown in a rendering |
| Mobility | $6 million | Access improvements from Lake Balboa across Victory Boulevard into the basin |
| LAFD fire prevention | $2 million | Fire prevention projects |
| Public Works | $2 million | Vegetation management |
The two sports facilities getting $12 million between them are built around organized, permitted play. Balboa Sports Complex, at 17015 Burbank Blvd., has lighted baseball, football and tennis, handball, indoor and outdoor basketball, volleyball, and a soccer field the city lists as unlighted, plus a children's play area and a community room. Field use requires a permit. The center bans barbecues, canopies, amplified sound, inflatables and gatherings of more than 100 people. Its public hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and it is closed Sunday. Hjelte Sports Center, at 16200 Burbank Blvd., is open from dawn to 10:30 p.m. and has a lighted baseball diamond and restrooms. Its fields are also permit-only.
So the money buys more evening hours on soccer fields, more shade on hot afternoons, and an easier crossing for anyone coming over from Lake Balboa. Those are real improvements for Encino families with kids in leagues. The beneficiaries are mostly people who already have a field permit.
The Olympics Arrive as Temporary Venues
All of this is happening on the way to LA28. The organizing committee's venue plan puts four Valley Complexes in the Sepulveda Basin for BMX Freestyle, BMX Racing, Modern Pentathlon, Skateboarding and 3x3 Basketball. LA28 calls Complexes 1 through 3 temporary. Complex 1 is an open-air BMX Freestyle and skateboarding venue, Complex 2 hosts Modern Pentathlon and skateboarding, and Complex 3 is an octagonal 3x3 Basketball venue. Complex 4, for BMX Racing, is described as built into the natural terrain.
Track cycling, the sport the Encino Velodrome was built for, is going to Carson Velodrome. The basin will host Olympic bikes in 2028, but on courses that are designed and built for the Games, with three of the four complexes labeled temporary.
Gabriel framed the new funding as something meant to outlast the Games. He told the Daily News:
"The investments that we're making today are not only going to benefit folks during the Olympics, but it's a legacy that's going to last long after the Olympics flame goes out."
On the Burbank Boulevard side, the facilities that will outlast the Games are the lit fields and the shade structures. The one already built to last since 1961 is the track.
A Track Started Over a Round of Golf
According to the club's history, the velodrome began in 1953 with four friends from the bicycle business: George Garner, Bob Hansing, Jack Kemp and Charlie Morton. That year Morton played golf with a friend from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who told him about a small piece of Corps land in the basin that nobody was using. The four formed a nonprofit, raised donations from importers, distributors, manufacturers and dealers, and put in a large amount of their own money. The Corps still owns the basin, and the city's Recreation and Parks department manages most of its recreation facilities.
The track's record is longer than its humble beginnings would suggest. It hosted the U.S. National Championships in 1965, the National Championships and U.S. Olympic Trials in 1968, and the Grand Prix of the United States on ABC's Wide World of Sports in 1972 and 1973.
The club now says on its homepage that "the original concrete has reached the end of its life, and the rebuild is designed, quoted and waiting on funding." The rebuild page lays out the plan in contractor-level detail:
- About 580 cubic yards of shotcrete, reinforced with #3 rebar tied on 12-inch centers, to stop most of the existing cracks from coming back
- New crowns at the top of turns one through four, formed with permanent steel forms so the surface returns to the track's original width
- A replaced balustrade fence, built into those steel forms
- A surface about five inches higher than the current one, which the club says could produce a true 250-meter race line
- A smooth finish set to the club's own test, a 23 mm clincher tire at 100 psi
The club puts the cost at $875,000 to $950,000 for about three months of work, done by a local company it has already hired to design the project. Even the high end of that range is less than an eighth of the $8 million going to Balboa Sports Center, and about 4 percent of the $22 million package. The club's donation page lists a complete rebuild as a long-term project.
For now the track runs on volunteer effort, and you can still ride it. The club advertises beginner classes most weeks, training six days a week, $10 sessions, rental bikes, and no experience required. Its calendar for the last days of October showed morning open training from 9 a.m. to noon, a free Thursday junior session from 4 to 6:30 p.m. for riders 17 and under with LA84 Foundation support, and a Friday Night Omnium from 6 to 8:30 p.m. for $10.
The Goats Came First
The fire-prevention money follows vegetation work already underway in the basin. In March 2026, the Daily News reported that the San Fernando Valley Audubon Society had brought in more than 500 goats for a 35-acre vegetation pilot next to the Apollo Model Airplane Field. The goats targeted an invasive plant known as "firebrush," with the goal of helping native plants come back on ground that had burned repeatedly. The paper described it as one of the first uses of goat grazing on Los Angeles public land for fire suppression.
The mayor's office says basin fires fell about 43 percent in the first six months of 2026 compared with the same period in 2025. The new package adds $2 million for LAFD fire prevention and $2 million for Public Works vegetation management on that same ground.
The Basin Calendar From Now Through Mid-December
The permanent parts of the basin are open now, and several dates line up well for Encino residents between now and mid-December.
- Sunday, Nov. 8. The San Fernando Valley Audubon Society runs a beginner-friendly bird walk from 9 to 11 a.m., meeting at the Woodley Park amphitheater. First-time birders and families are welcome, and the walk is canceled in heavy rain. It is also the second Sunday of the month, one of the few Sundays the SuihoEn Japanese Garden is open, from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Admission is $5, and the garden closes within 24 hours of rain.
- Sunday, Dec. 6. Audubon's regular Sepulveda Basin Bird Walk runs from 8 to 11 a.m. and covers about two miles. The group says seeing more than 60 species is common.
- Sunday, Dec. 13. Another beginner walk runs from 9 to 11 a.m., meeting at the Wildlife Area amphitheater. It falls on December's second Sunday, so SuihoEn should be open that morning too. Check the garden's hours page before you go.
On any day, the Encino and Balboa golf courses share 16821 Burbank Blvd. Both are 18-hole, par-72 layouts. Encino plays 7,023 yards on a more open course, Balboa plays 6,628 yards through narrower, tree-lined fairways. The city's golf page lists weekend green fees at $49 for 18 holes on either course, or $54 before 9 a.m. The Sepulveda Basin Off-Leash Dog Park, at 17550 Victory Blvd., is open daily from sunrise to sunset and closes Fridays from 6 to 11 a.m. for maintenance.
For more on the neighborhood beyond the basin, our Encino neighborhood page and our earlier look at Encino's Ventura Boulevard dining scene cover the other side of Burbank Boulevard.
The velodrome club scoped its fix down to the crowns of turns one through four and priced it before asking anyone for money. We take the same approach with Westside and Valley homes that have sat on the market or need work before they sell. We find what's holding the property back, scope the work and set a price buyers will accept. If your Encino home needs that kind of plan, Alphonso | Bjorn offers a Free Home Repositioning Strategy.
