Vast Community Takes Form at Playa Vista Workshops : Development: Scaled-back plans are in the environmental impact study phase. They include 25,000 residents and 20,000 jobs.

For eight hours over three nights last week, hundreds of concerned residents gathered in a darkened hotel ballroom in Westchester to see a vision of the future.

What they saw were images of a vast new community of Spanish-style residences and offices, streets lined with shops and restaurants, landscaped promenades and open spaces, a small-craft harbor and a restored wetland.

It was a picture of a quality of life that does not exist today. But for more than a year, Maguire Thomas Partners, developer of Playa Vista, has been selling that ambience. The evening workshops offered the public a chance to comment on the latest plans for building that new community on hundreds of acres between Marina del Rey and the Westchester Bluffs.

The other thing the workshops offered was a reminder that what is envisioned at Playa Vista is development of a magnitude unprecedented for the Westside--or nearly anywhere else.

Reactions varied widely. Anti-development activists warned of gridlock and demanded the land remain as open space. Supporters hailed the project as an improvement to the Westchester-Playa del Rey area.

Marjorie Alatorre of the Venice Area Chamber of Commerce saluted Playa Vista for being innovative and for “trying to give us the best quality of life.”

That view was not shared by environmentalist Marilyn Cole. “You’re destroying an entire ecosystem,” Cole told the developers. “Your project is a wonderful project, but it is not meant for this location.”

The immense scale of Playa Vista was readily apparent to both sides.

The multibillion-dollar development would include 5-million square feet of office space, more than twice the landmark twin towers of Century City; 11,760 residential units, more than all of Hermosa Beach; 720,000 square feet of retail space, the equivalent of Westside Pavilion; 2,400 hotel rooms, more than twice the Century Plaza Hotel, and at least 25,000 parking spaces, as many as Los Angeles International Airport.

If built as planned, Playa Vista one day could be home for 25,000 residents and provide 20,000 jobs.

The project is so big that it took more than four hours for the developer and a parade of consultants to explain the issues that will be addressed in its environmental impact report.

About 25 consulting firms are working on the study that will examine everything from traffic patterns to endangered species.

Maguire Thomas senior partner Nelson C. Rising said the environmental impact analysis alone could cost the Santa Monica-based firm $2 million and could take until next spring to complete. After public comments on the draft report, a final document will be prepared by next summer.

Ultimately, portions of the development must win approval from the city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, and the California Coastal Commission.

Construction is not expected to begin until 1992 and will take between eight and 10 years to finish, Rising said in an interview.

The task involved in assessing Playa Vista’s environmental impacts is as daunting as the multibillion-dollar project.

Consultants will monitor traffic at 75 intersections from Santa Monica to El Segundo, check air pollution and noise levels, gauge water and energy demands, and assess the development’s impact on views, aesthetics, and essential public services.

State law requires preparation of such an environmental impact study. “Full disclosure is one of the true foundations of the California Environmental Quality Act,” consultant Bruce Lackow told the audience at the first of the workshops Monday night.

Once the study is complete, significant adverse environmental effects must be mitigated or offset. If those effects cannot be entirely eliminated, the environmental law permits local governments to still grant approval but requires them to adopt a “statement of overriding considerations.”

Such statements are common for large developments, but they tend to provide opponents with an avenue for legal challenges. For example, two nearby projects, the $400-million Channel Gateway residential and office complex planned for Venice and the $160-million Marina Place regional shopping mall in Culver City, were approved with statements of overriding considerations. And both face lawsuits that will have to be resolved before construction can begin.

Playa Vista is vastly larger than either Channel Gateway or Marina Place, and is one of the biggest in Los Angeles history. Maguire Thomas officials privately acknowledge they will need a statement of overriding consideration before their development can proceed.

Westchester activist Lee Roozen criticized the environmental impact process, calling it faulty and warning that it can lead to lawsuits. He called on Maguire Thomas to hire independent, unbiased experts to assess the project’s effects.

During the workshops, however, Maguire Thomas officials played down the possible effects that are still being studied and emphasized instead an array of environmental benefits offered by the project.

“We are trying to make it as ecologically sound as possible,” Rising told the audience, which exceeded 250 people each night, even during the All-Star Game on Tuesday.

Acknowledging that traffic is a major concern in the heavily congested Lincoln Boulevard area, Rising described Maguire Thomas’ commitment to developing a community that discourages use of the automobile.

A key element in that strategy is to seek a balance between jobs and housing, which reduces commuting and cuts air pollution.

Maguire Thomas is also planning to use natural gas-powered vehicles, provide a transit system within the project, bus service to downtown Los Angeles and Westside business locations, and short-term rental cars for car-poolers in emergencies.

The transportation program was denounced by Westchester resident Joseph Geber, who warned that the development will lead to horrendous traffic problems. “There will be such gridlock. We will choke,” he shouted.

Plans for restoring 260 acres of the Ballona Wetlands, one of the last wetland areas on the Los Angeles coast, were well received. The area is home to nearly 200 species of birds, including the endangered Belding’s savannah sparrow and the California least tern.

However, some in the audience criticized the restoration plan for not going far enough. “We are dealing with one of the greatest resources left on the California coast,” said teacher Jeffrey N. Jones.

Jones complimented Maguire Thomas for its futuristic design, but he warned of “potentially severe impacts, even with state-of-the-art approaches.” He suggested that the developer consider restoring 500 acres of wetlands.

The plan also was attacked by a neighbor who feared the wetlands would become a breeding ground for mosquitoes that would ruin his back-yard barbecues.

Maguire Thomas officials also presented plans for constructing a new marina and 40 neighborhood parks throughout Playa Vista.

But Rex Frankel, vice president of the grass-roots Coalition of Concerned Communities, denounced the plan as inadequate, saying it would result in “parklets” rather than large open spaces. “I think your project is way too dense,” Frankel said in one of three exchanges with Rising.

Maguire Thomas also pledged to establish a greenbelt and year-round stream at the base of the Westchester Bluffs. And the developers expressed a desire to build a safe pedestrian and bicycle path along the Ballona Creek levee.

To save water, Maguire Thomas’ consultants presented a plan for an on-site sewage treatment plant that would clean waste water and use it for landscape irrigation and replenishing the wetlands. The process would avoid sending Playa Vista’s waste water to Los Angeles’ overtaxed Hyperion sewage plant, except in emergencies.

The developer also proposed a recycling complex on the property, where trash would be separated into paper, glass, plastic, aluminum and other metals.

Maguire Thomas’ plans for devoting 1,760 residential units--15% of the project--to people with low to moderate incomes also won praise.

But a suggestion that the developers provide for the homeless was rejected. “I don’t think that we can solve that problem,” Rising replied.

In response to community concerns, Playa Vista project manager Doug Gardner pledged that none of the its buildings will be taller than the Westchester Bluffs.

Toward the end of the three days of workshops, Playa del Rey resident George Swift approached the microphone to thank Maguire Thomas for holding the sessions. He noted the developer is under no obligation to do so. “I’m really grateful for what you’re trying to do,” Swift said.

Rising smiled and later thanked the audience for its participation. “We can’t agree with everyone on everything, but we’re happy to hear from you,” he said.

PLAYA VISTA--A CITY WITHIN A CITY Site--957 acres between the Westchester Bluffs and Marina del Rey, stretching from the San Diego Freeway nearly to the ocean. About 260 acres are to be restored and preserved as wetlands. Most of the land was part of the estate of billionaire Howard Hughes when he died in 1976. Hughes’ company, Summa Corp., sold a controlling interest in the property to Maguire Thomas Partners, a large national real estate development firm based in Santa Monica.

Project--A mix of residences, offices, retail shops, hotels and a marina, including:

11,760 apartment, condominium and townhouse units, in buildings up to eight stories tall, or enough housing for 25,000 residents.

5 million square feet of office space, 720,000 square feet of retail space, 2,400 hotel rooms. Total employment estimated at 20,000 jobs.

A small-craft marina of more than 40 acres with 750 boat slips.

More than 25,000 parking spaces.

Status--Environmental impact report being prepared. Approval needed from city of Los Angeles, county of Los Angeles, California Coastal Commission. Construction of first phase unlikely to begin before early 1992.

Source: Maguire Thomas Partners