L.A. May Drop Plan to Add Dockweiler Beach Parking : Development: Councilwoman Galanter criticizes the proposal, which initially would serve workers on a sewage treatment plant project.

Los Angeles officials overseeing the expansion of the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant said Monday they may drop plans to build two parking lots on the beach in Playa del Rey after protests from Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter.

The city’s Bureau of Engineering proposed paving a portion of Dockweiler State Beach, near Vista del Mar and Napoleon Street, to create nearly 700 parking spaces for workers who will be involved with construction of the addition to the city’s principal sewage treatment plant.

But Galanter held a news conference Monday to criticize the parking lot plan. “I have a problem in principle with paving over the beach,” Galanter told reporters.

The Playa del Rey Homeowners Assn. and the Friends of Ballona Wetlands, an environmental group, also oppose the parking lots. Although plans call for the parking eventually to be used by beach-goers, representatives of the two groups said parking lots already on the beach are under-used.

The parking lot proposal was initiated by the city engineering officials to accommodate workers expanding the treatment facilities at the sewage plant.

But Sam Furuta, the engineer supervising the expansion, said planners had no idea how strong Galanter’s reservations to the parking proposal were. “We aren’t going to try to force this through the system without our councilwoman’s support,” Furuta said.

The parking proposal may be dropped after engineering officials discuss the proposal with Galanter, Furuta said. Workers could either park on the street, or be shuttled in from other locations, Furuta said.

County officials had also backed the proposal, saying that future development in the area might create a need for more parking at the beach. The parking lots were included in a comprehensive Dockweiler State Beach General Plan, detailing all proposed improvements.

But after Monday’s protests, county officials said they, too, may be willing to drop the idea. Despite the possible future need for beach parking, the parking lots had only been suggested in the first place to accommodate the Hyperion reconstruction, said Eric Bourdon, assistant director of the Department of Beaches and Harbors.

The parking proposal will be debated Friday by the state Parks and Recreation Commission.

Local residents have long opposed expansion of parking lots at the beach, which lies beneath the flight pattern for Los Angeles International Airport. The proximity of the airport and the Hyperion sewage plant have kept attendance at the beach down and made more parking unnecessary, said Howard Bennett, president of the Playa del Rey Homeowners Assn.

Bennett, who helped fight back a similar parking proposal in 1970, denied that local residents are trying to prevent outsiders from coming to their beach.

“This parking lot is a pure waste of money, because nobody is going to use it,” Bennett said.