Galanter Launches New Attack on Summa Plans for Sprawling Marina Development

The Summa Corp.’s planned office, residential, hotel and retail development near Marina del Rey--a rallying target of the slow-growth movement in Los Angeles’ last municipal election--is under new attack from one of the movement’s chief beneficiaries.

City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who upset the area’s once-powerful City Council incumbent, Pat Russell, a backer of the sprawling project, has met twice with Summa officials, demanding that they scale it back.

“I campaigned on a platform . . . that I would go to Summa Corp. and try to work out some kind of deal (to) reduce the total amount of development,” Galanter said in an interview. “And I’ve approached Summa with suggestions and we’re exchanging correspondence.” For the time being, she said, she has agreed with Summa to keep the details of her proposals private.

“I really feel the area is so congested that having additional development needs to be looked at very, very skeptically,” Galanter said. “Both the county and the city have traditionally approached congestion by saying, ‘Well, we’ll mitigate the traffic impact,’ which means, ‘We’ll take some other person’s property and widen the street,’ . . . instead of saying we shouldn’t build quite so much development.”

The battle over Playa Vista could become the first major test of whether the slow-growth wave will result in actual changes in large projects that have previously won government backing.

The 957-acre Playa Vista plan now calls for more than 8,800 residential units, 5.9 million square feet of office space, 970,000 square feet of retail space, three hotels with a combined 2,400 rooms and a 40-acre marina. About 85% of the site area rests in the city, the balance in an unincorporated area of Los Angeles County.

Part of the project would be built over what is now a seawater marsh known as the Ballona Wetlands. A total of 209 acres of wetlands has been set aside for a $10-million bird sanctuary and information center, to be financed by Summa. That sanctuary must be completed before a single brick is laid. Opponents want 100 acres more preserved to protect the wetlands’ many wildlife species, including the alligator lizard, Belding’s savanna sparrow, the wandering skipper and the California least tern.

During her campaign, Galanter said the elimination of several hundred residential units planned south of Jefferson Boulevard and west of Lincoln Boulevard might provide the additional wetlands desired by the environmentalists.

Critics say Playa Vista, as now planned, would result in intolerable increases in traffic congestion, as well as add to smog and noise in the corridor between Los Angeles International Airport and Santa Monica.

Until Galanter’s election, few official voices were raised against the Playa Vista plan. Like Russell, Supervisor Deane Dana--who represents the county’s coastal areas--remains enthusiastic about Playa Vista, as does Mayor Tom Bradley. Critics attribute much of the project’s success to Summa’s political clout. The corporation, founded by the late billionaire Howard Hughes, has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to such local officeholders as Bradley and Dana.

Only the county Small Craft Harbor Commission, an advisory agency, voiced concern, urging the Board of Supervisors to take a second look at whether the county could get better terms by developing the area itself.

But with Galanter’s election comes greater scrutiny.

Rubell Helgeson, Galanter’s new planning deputy, has been a longtime critic of the Playa Vista and surrounding projects. But when Helgeson last year cautioned that the project would usher in greater traffic congestion than Summa’s experts predicted, her warnings were given relatively short shrift by most public officials, with the exception of Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica).

Voice to Be Reckoned With

Now as Galanter’s aide, Helgeson’s is another voice to be reckoned with. She has been at Galanter’s side in the talks with Summa.

“We hope to come to an acceptable understanding with Playa Vista and if we don’t we’ll have to look at all the other options that are available,” Helgeson said.

Summa officials said they will study Galanter’s proposals. “We think she is a very responsible representative (and) we do not want to react flippantly to her letter,” said Charles Alders, vice president of Howard Hughes Properties, a Summa subsidiary.

Alders said in an interview that the company accepts its “responsibility” to help ease traffic congestion, noting that Summa has agreed to finance 5% of roadway improvements through the project.

A month after Galanter first met with Summa, a Galanter aide told The Times that Summa has sold the southeast portion of Playa Vista to Maguire/Thomas Partners. The large downtown Los Angeles developer is now building the 73-story Library Tower adjacent to the historic downtown main library.

Officials of neither Summa nor Maguire/Thomas would confirm a sale, although both companies acknowledged that discussions have taken place.

Time an Enemy and Ally

Time is both an enemy and ally of Galanter. Approval of final implementation plans, yet to be submitted, is required by the California Coastal Commission. This delay is one impediment to preventing Summa from moving swiftly against efforts to scale down the project.

Another is an environmental lawsuit over the extent of wetlands that should be restored. Until the lawsuit is settled, Summa and the county will be unable to finalize an agreement over how much Summa will pay to use a narrow strip of county land to link the landlocked project to Santa Monica Bay for the proposed 40-acre marina, a chief feature of the development. Both Summa and county officials have said that if future negotiations are successful, the county might one day operate and derive income from the new marina.

Of the 957-acre site for the Summa project, 139 acres is in county territory, over which Galanter as a city official has no direct influence.

But Galanter, a member of the Friends of the Ballona Wetlands, has dangled an enticing carrot in front of Summa that may clear the way for the deal it wants to strike with the county.

“It’s my understanding that (Summa) really can’t move forward with much of anything until they have settled that lawsuit,” she said. “And what I’ve told them is that if they can agree to some of the elements in what I’m proposing, I believe I can get the lawsuit taken care of.”