Land Swap in Venice: : Russell Pushes Plan That Could Benefit Campaign Contributors

Los Angeles City Council President Pat Russell is pushing a multimillion-dollar land swap that would give some of her major campaign contributors prime city-owned property in exchange for troublesome lots, some of which are badly eroded and may have limited potential use under state Coastal Commission regulations.

The proposed trade, which Russell said will provide the best site for a needed Venice-area beach parking lot, would give the city parcels along Ballona Lagoon, a habitat for many shore birds, including the endangered least tern. Russell said the parking area would “undoubtedly” require landfilling on some eroded lots, a practice that the state Coastal Commission has sought to restrict.

The swap has drawn criticism from the city administrative office and some Venice-area residents.

Russell Johnson, a city administrative office analyst familiar with the proposed trade and the lots the city would acquire, said: “I wouldn’t buy it. The other (city-owned) lots are all buildable. . . . Common sense tells you the property we are being asked to acquire is worth less.”

June Reiner, an area resident who has attacked the swap, said she fears that the private landowners are “going to unload a white elephant” on the city and said other city lots would be more suitable for parking.

Told which parcels the city would receive in the swap, Councilman Marvin Braude said: “I’ve driven along there many times. It appears to me they are of little value.”

The trade, which was proposed in a motion by Russell approved by the council earlier this year, would exchange 20 city-owned Venice-area lots for 11 privately held lots on the lagoon with about the same total square footage. The proposal will return to the City Council for consideration after the city’s Real Estate Department negotiates a tentative agreement with the landowners.

Venice Peninsula Properties, a real estate partnership, owns eight of the lots the city would receive, and J. B. Graner, an oilman, owns the others. David Rome and his son, Clifford, are general partners in Venice Peninsula Properties. Graner and the Romes said they have been longtime contributors to Russell’s campaigns.

In 1982, the Romes each contributed $500 to Russell and in 1983, Graner contributed $2,500.

Most recently, in September of last year, shortly after Russell introduced the motion to process the swap, the Romes and Graner contributed a total of $6,000 to her.

Russell denied that the contributions have influenced her actions or pose an ethical problem. “I have no problem at all,” she said. “I mean I make my decisions on the basis of what I have to and the evidence before me.”

Russell and city planners said the property the city would receive is ideally located for parking to serve a little-used one-mile stretch of public beach on the Marina Peninsula, an expensive, out-of-the-way shorefront community sandwiched between Marina del Rey and the ocean.

Lack of adequate public access to the peninsula’s beach and canals has been a continuing controversy, with the Coastal Commission and some residents’ groups pushing for more parking and walkways and other residents strongly resisting opening up the area. Inadequate parking and beach access have been major issues in the commission’s long-delayed approval of the area’s local coastal plan.

Russell said that the possibility of swapping city property has been discussed on and off by city officials for more than 10 years and that the privately owned lots fronting the lagoon, which form a long, narrow strip next to the peninsula’s main artery, Pacific Avenue, would provide the best solution to a difficult parking problem.

Because of their proximity to the habitat--the lagoon is only one of two wetlands remaining in the Los Angeles area--the parcels have come under close scrutiny by the Coastal Commission.

Venice Peninsula Properties filed suit against the commission and has been battling restrictions placed on development plans for one of the lots. The commission has rejected plans for a duplex on the lot, requiring buffer areas and citing concerns about the effects on the lagoon.

Costly Fight Cited

David Rome, who acquired his lots 20 years ago hoping that a now-defunct canal project would go ahead and that he would be able to build a waterfront home with a dock for his sailboat, said the fight with the commission has been costly but necessary to protect his rights. Through restrictions on development, the commission has been attempting to take his property without paying for it, he said. Asked if he wants to get rid of the parcels, he said, “That I would like to do.”

Concerning the fears expressed by some critics of the swap that the city will inherit the difficulties he has had, Rome said, “I consider that to be a city problem.”

Clifford Rome described the lots as “good property” and said he is not anxious to sell.

According to Russell, the Romes and Graner, no agreements have been reached. They characterize the trade talks as being in the preliminary stages.

Russell said David Rome asked her several months ago, “ ‘Is it OK with you, Pat, if we move on this?’ ” Rome said that at the time he was weighing whether to file an appeal--which he later did--in his suit against the Coastal Commission.

Russell said she agreed to move ahead with the swap but told Rome that the matter would have to be handled through the city’s lawyers and real estate office. David Grannis, one of her aides assigned to the Venice area, has been following the matter and been in contact with the city attorney’s office and the real estate division, she said.

Independent Appraisal

Russell’s motion calls for an independent appraisal of all the properties involved, Russell noted, adding that any difference in the value of the lots would be made up in cash. The city’s appraisal will be kept confidential until a tentative agreement is reached with the landowners, a process that could take several months. Russell said it appears that the city and private lots are of approximately equal value.

Johnson, the analyst in the city administrative office, said that a preliminary appraisal by the city put the value of the private lots at $3 million, a figure he said appears to be too high considering the condition of some of the them.

Braude, who described such land swaps as “rare,” suggested a less complicated approach. “If you need to buy land for public use, the straightforward way is to negotiate the purchase and pay for it or condemn it and purchase it,” Braude said.

Russell said a trade has been recommended in the past by various city staffers, including real estate officials and the city attorney’s office.

Assistant City Atty. Norm Roberts, who handles real estate matters, said he did not recall such a recommendation.

‘A Political Matter’

Officials in the city’s real estate division said they will look out for the city’s interests in negotiations with the landowners. Grant Peniston, chief real estate officer, said he does not know how the proposed trade or the list of city-owned lots involved were developed. “When the City Council says do something, we do not question it. They tell us, ‘Exchange these lots.’ How they came to that I have no idea.

“It’s a political matter,” he said.

It also is unclear how much parking could be developed on the lots the city would acquire in the swap. The level area adjacent to Pacific Avenue varies from about 30 feet deep on some lots to only a few feet wide on others. Some are badly eroded and plunge down an embankment toward the lagoon. At least one is partly submerged.

Russell insisted that a plan can be developed that would provide parking and protect the lagoon. She said a parking lot, which would not obstruct the view of the lagoon, is preferable to homes along the lagoon.

“Look, we want to make it work,” she said. “I don’t want to get in some blind alley where the situation’s been created where it wouldn’t work.”

Asked how many parking spaces the lots would provide, she cited a report prepared in the mid-1970s that recommended development of 500 parking spaces along the bank of the lagoon. “The only numbers I have are what came out of the study,” she said.

Some Land Developed

That study envisioned retaining walls and filling in part of the lagoon and was prepared before the Coastal Commission developed its guidelines for protection of the habitat. The study also included additional comparatively flat land, some of which has since been developed for housing.

Melvin Nutter, chairman of the commission, said: “We have some strong and significant policies against filling wetlands.” He said that the commission has a strong interest in increasing parking in the area and that some parking may be appropriate along the lagoon. When conflicts arise between providing beach access and protecting sensitive habitats, however, the commission normally opts to protect the habitat, he said.

Some of the lots the city is considering trading away have been identified by the commission as possible parking locations. Commission staff members said they have not recommended the lots fronting on the lagoon as the best parking alternative.

“Just in the abstract, it would be hard to imagine our staff recommending we fill in a wetland to provide parking,” Nutter said.

Community Criticism

Community members, including the president of Venice Area Chamber of Commerce and leaders of the Venice Town Council, have questioned the proposed swap and complained that they were not informed of it by Russell’s office.

City Planning Director Calvin Hamilton, however, said the location of the lots along the lagoon is “ideal” for parking. He said one alternative to filling might be to “build a parking lot sort of on posts” over the part of the lagoon, although he added that it would be “darned expensive.”

Russell said she is aware that the swap is being labeled a “terrible rip-off” by some in the community. Given the Coastal Commission’s concerns, activism of the community and resistance to beach access, she said, “anything you do there is going to have a battle.”