City Drops Beach Parking Lot Plan : Dockweiler: Residents are pleased, but county officials are keeping their options open by saying that paving over sand may be necessary in the future.

Los Angeles city officials have dropped plans calling for immediate construction of a parking lot on the beach in Playa del Rey, but other officials have angered local residents by continuing to insist that paving part of the sand may be necessary in the future.

A 688-space parking lot will remain in a long-range plan for Dockweiler State Beach that is scheduled for consideration next month by the state Parks and Recreation Commission, said Larry Charness, chief of planning for the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors.

Although pleased that immediate plans for the lot have been waylaid, local residents say its inclusion in the long-range plan assures that the issue is not dead.

The county officials “want to keep their options open,” said Howard Bennett, president of the Playa del Rey Homeowners Assn. “But we feel for many reasons (the parking lot) is just not reasonable.”

Bennett and other residents argue that the parking lot is not needed and that it would waste money and needlessly cover sand.

Arguing that the roar of jets from nearby Los Angeles International Airport keeps attendance at Dockweiler beach to a minimum, Bennett said: “The parking lot there now has never been filled, with the exception of the Fourth of July. And we have enough concrete on the beach now.”

Construction of the parking lot near the north end of the four-mile-long strand was proposed by the city’s Bureau of Engineering. The agency said it needed the parking to accommodate workers who are rebuilding the city’s Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant.

But building a parking lot on the state beach requires an amendment to the Dockweiler State Beach General Plan, the document that sets guidelines for any long-range improvements there.

County officials who maintain local beaches supported the proposal, knowing that the lot ultimately could be used to accommodate beach-goers. The officials agreed to include the parking lot plan with a series of other proposals for improving the beach, including the building of additional bathrooms and expansion of a recreational vehicle park.

But when the state Parks and Recreation Commission held a hearing last May on the proposed changes, local residents and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter spoke against the parking lot. They said it was not needed and would reduce the stretch of sand available to beach visitors.

Commissioners postponed a vote, asking for drawings of the parking lot and other improvements.

Earlier this month, city officials said they no longer needed the lot. Workers at Hyperion can find parking at other beach parking lots or can be shuttled to the sewage plant by their employers, the officials said.

But now, county officials are pushing the parking proposal.

“We generally have enough parking at Dockweiler to accommodate the public right now,” Charness said. “But 10 or 15 or 20 years from now, because L.A. County keeps growing . . . there very well may be a need for additional parking at Dockweiler.”

Charness said two factors promise to increase use of Dockweiler: construction of the Century Freeway, which will end at LAX, and the possible development of a massive housing and office project called Playa Vista less than a mile from the beach.

Charness said inclusion of the lot in the long-range plan should not threaten residents. He said the lot will be built only if there is a need for it.

The final decision on more parking at Dockweiler beach will be made by the state Parks and Recreation Commission. A hearing in Marina del Rey is scheduled for Nov. 8 but could be postponed because the proposal is incomplete, state officials said.