$1.2-Million San Pedro Park Project Backed

A Los Angeles zoning official has 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, which must be approved by the California Coastal Commission, would allow work on the park to begin early next year.

The plan, outlined at a 90-minute public hearing last Thursday 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 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, will 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 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.

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.