Pacific Palisades

The final environmental impact report has been completed on a proposal to fill mile-long Potrero Canyon and create a recreation area there.

The Los Angeles Board of Recreation and Parks Commissioners on Friday will consider whether to certify the report and approve the park development. The hearing will convene at 2 p.m. in room 1325, City Hall East, 200 N. Main St., Los Angeles.

The city is proposing to build a park that would include a trail from the Palisades Recreation Center at the top of the canyon to Pacific Coast Highway. New drainage systems would be installed to cut down on the erosion that has led to landslides.

Fill projects have been considered for decades as a way of stabilizing the canyon’s landslide-prone cliffs. About 99 properties line the canyon.

A project proposed in 1972 called for a 125-foot layer of fill to be deposited in the canyon. In 1984, a proposal was made to fill 40 feet of the canyon’s depth and stabilize the most dangerous parts with concrete and metal bulkheads. On Friday, the commission may decide to continue studying the proposals.

The potential for an increase in traffic and noise during the fill project was one of the primary concerns that surfaced during the environmental impact study, according to consultant Harold S. Schneider. He also said that canyon vegetation would be lost because of the filling. But he added that the environmental impacts would not keep the city from pursuing the project.

At a public hearing in January, some residents expressed fears about the quality of the fill but others said they wanted the city to fill the canyon as high as possible to maximize stability. Some said they did not want a park in their backyards.

About a dozen homes have plunged into the canyon since 1933 because of landslides. In January, 12 homeowners reached a multimillion-dollar settlement with the City of Los Angeles over property damages that stemmed from landslides in the canyon.