Shuttle to Sand Urged for Venice : Activism: A group wants a system to transport people from parking lots to the beach.

A group of Venice activists, including the former president of the Venice Town Council, are forming a community development corporation to provide a shuttle system to transport beach-goers from outlying parking lots to the sand.

The group, called Venice Resources Corp., will apply to the state for nonprofit status this week, said two of its founders, Dell Chumley and Debra Bowen.

Brochures and a plan for a weekend and holiday shuttle system are already in print.

The brochure lists two major developers and City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter’s planning deputy, Jim Bickhart, among those providing seed money for the redevelopment group.

Bickhart said he made the donation as a private citizen and not in his official capacity. “I think there have clearly emerged things government no longer has the money to do and the private sector doesn’t do because it is not financially worthwhile to them. It takes nonprofit groups to do that.”

For now, the group will limit itself to the shuttle project, said Chumley, using existing lots, such as those at schools, which are empty on weekends. Later, plans include branching out into other areas, such as parking, developing public spaces and other projects to benefit Venice.

Chumley said she envisions funding from private and public grants, as well as from developers who have agreed to fund community improvements in exchange for support for their projects.

For instance, in one proposal under consideration, the J.H. Snyder Co., developer of Channel Gateway, a 512-unit high-rise condominium, apartment and office complex on Lincoln Boulevard next to Marina del Rey, would contribute $1 million to be used for community improvements, including the shuttle system.

The newly formed group would provide a way to direct the money back to Venice, Chumley said. “We realized when we negotiated with developers that we didn’t have any place to put (the money) except the city general fund,” Chumley said.

In forming the group, Chumley, the former president of the Venice Town Council, is taking the course predicted by her foes in the community group during an internecine battle for control last summer.

Some Town Council members criticized her then for negotiating with developers--ostensibly on behalf of the group membership, but not in keeping with its philosophy. Chumley quit under fire in July, amid a heated debate on how to deal with development and growth in the community, which is becoming gentrified.

The Venice Town Council is circulating petitions seeking a one-year moratorium on all commercial development in Venice to assess its overall impact. A spokesman said it had more than 2,000 signatures.

The council has also broken ranks with Galanter, whose approach, like Chumley’s, has been to negotiate the best deal possible for the community from developers. As Chumley put it, “If you’re not going to negotiate with developers, they’ll still develop their land, and you’ll have nothing.”

Venice Town Council President Larry Sullivan likened the negotiating for community amenities to prostitution run amok. “I think the community is only willing to prostitute itself so far,” Sullivan said.

Noting that developers who provide community services do so in return for receiving exemptions to zoning regulations, Sullivan said he envisions a community overrun by development. “If the Venice community is destroyed by these concessions to the developers, what good is the shuttle?”

Sullivan and others also perceive the community development corporation as an obvious conflict of interest for those involved. “They simply cannot go to the wall with any particular developer when they know in the back of their minds they have a goal to fund a shuttle,” Sullivan said.

He also accused Chumley of advancing her own agenda by creating a paid position for herself.

Chumley said she has not yet decided whether to apply for a paid executive director position, which will be filled by an open selection process, she said. She dismisses her critics as “absolutists” who would rather take a stance than get things accomplished for Venice.