Commissioners Delay Decisions on Development at Two Small Parks

Los Angeles Recreation and Park Commissioners have delayed decisions on whether to allow private development on two obscure and run-down parks, one in West Hollywood and one near Culver City.

At a packed hearing last Friday, the commissioners postponed until July 17 the passage of an ordinance to lease Media Park to the Culver City Redevelopment Agency and delayed approval of a proposed parking structure at William S. Hart Park in West Hollywood.

The Sierra Club and several neighbors expressed opposition to a 52-space underground garage that a still-to-be-opened luxury hotel is seeking to build in Hart Park. West Hollywood officials have said they will not allow the St. James’s Club to open in the former Sunset Plaza apartment building without a permanent off-site lot to supplement parking in its garage.

The commission is also considering a Los Angeles city plan to lease Media Park, which is on Venice Boulevard near Robertson Boulevard, to the Culver City Redevelopment Agency. According to a pending lease between the city and the agency, the agency must set aside “property for use as public recreation and park facilities” and may sublease other portions for commercial development.

Court Order

A Superior Court judge ordered Los Angeles to “cease and desist from selling, conveying, or otherwise disposing of Media Park” in 1971.

If the city attorney determines that the court ruling applies to the proposal for Media Park, the commission cannot lease it.

Alex Man, co-chairman of the Sierra Club’s Urban Parks Committee, said the commissioners do not maintain the parks if enough people do not use them.

But Alonzo Carmichael, planning officer for the park department, said he does not understand what all the fuss is about. “They will still be parks,” Carmichael said. He said the department wants to improve the parks so that they will be more appealing.

According to Carmichael, the city has the same maintenance schedule for all parks.

Opponents of the Hart Park garage proposal consider the two-week postponement a victory.

Tour Planned

“They (park commissioners) are all going to walk the park,” said Eldan Hughes, the Los Angeles chapter chairman of the Sierra Club. “They are all going to see it. They are going to talk to the city and the county, and they are not just going through with the request for a proposal that essentially says we don’t care about this park.”

William S. Hart Park, on Delongpre Avenue near Sweetzer Avenue, was donated to the city by the legendary Hollywood cowboy of the silent film era after whom it is named. He also donated $50,000 to maintain the park.

“The city of Los Angeles has not maintained the park well,” said Arlen Andelson, an attorney for the St. James’s Club. “We are working for the mutual benefit of all,” he added. The St. James’s Club would take over maintenance of the park if the garage is allowed.

But nearby residents of a retirement home say the traffic and the gas fumes from the garage would be unbearable. “Let us live in peace, not misery,” one resident told the commission.

Neighbors have asked the commission to maintain and improve the park.

According to the park department staff report, the interest from Hart’s $50,000 donation has increased to $220,000.

Opponents of the garage have asked that the money be used to upgrade the .83-acre park. “There is history there,” said William Hart Jr., son of the late film star. “And it is something to be preserved there.”