L.A. Zoning Official OKs Angels Gate Renovation : Park: San Pedro plan calls for sports fields, new landscaping and other safety and recreational improvements.

A Los Angeles zoning official Thursday approved a long-awaited, $1.2-million plan to renovate Angels Gate Park in San Pedro with new landscaping, sports fields and other safety and recreational improvements.

The decision, pending approval by the California Coastal Commission in the coming months, would allow work on the park to begin early next year.

The plan, outlined at a 90-minute public hearing before Associate Zoning Administrator Joe Perica, covers only a portion of the 64-acre park, which opened in 1978 when some of the federal lands used for the old Ft. MacArthur were deeded to the city.

But city officials and a dozen area residents said Thursday that the pending renovation of even a portion of Angels Gate represents a significant step toward providing the park with amenities long sought by the community and city agencies.

Under the plan, developed by the Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department and endorsed by various community groups, six acres of the park bordering Paseo del Mar will be used as daytime picnic grounds. The grounds, which will be graded and landscaped, would include several clusters of picnic tables overlooking Point Fermin and the Korean Bell monument.

The plan also calls for transforming a two-acre site on the north end of the park into a grass-covered sports field for soccer, baseball and other activities. To accommodate the field, a facility sought for years by area youth organizations and other community groups, the city will demolish seven old and abandoned wood-frame Army barracks.

While the landscaping and recreational facilities are intended to beautify the park and increase its uses, city officials Thursday said the most pressing element of the renovation plan is a new system to improve water pressure for fire protection. The system will also be used for irrigation.

“That is the first priority,” said Peter New, a city landscape architect who outlined the proposed renovation of the park at the hearing.

During the hearing, several area residents who have followed the proposed improvements to the park raised concerns that the city’s plans did not include enough parking for the larger crowds anticipated by the addition of picnic grounds and a sports field.

The residents also said they are worried about traffic congestion at the park’s main entrance at 36th and Gaffey streets. While the entrance is to be remodeled and landscaped, several residents said they hope it can be widened to help reduce traffic tie-ups along that winding stretch of Gaffey.

“The greatest concern of residents who live close to it is the entrance and the traffic hazard,” said Greg Smith, president of the Point Fermin Homeowners Assn.

Although city officials said their traffic studies show that the park already includes more than enough parking, they agreed, at Smith’s urging, to consider methods of diverting traffic to another entrance at 32nd Street during major events at the park.

In approving the plan, city zoning administrator Perica also required city recreation officials to ensure that their renovation of the park will include adequate restroom facilities to accommodate the anticipated larger crowds.

Perica also conditioned his approval of the plan on city officials’ using drought-resistant plants and plants native to the terrain wherever possible during the landscaping of the park.

After the hearing, New said city parks officials have already set aside $800,000 toward the park’s improvements and intend to move ahead with the work early next year if the renovation plan is approved by coastal commissioners. The entire project, he said, is expected to take four months to complete.

Under the park’s master plan for development, city officials in future years intend to relocate the park’s cultural arts center, add another seven acres of sports fields and also bring other monuments and facilities to the park, including a Native American Cultural Center.