State Panel OKs Dockweiler Plan With New Park and Parking Lot : Beaches: Playa del Rey neighbors unsuccessfully objected to the changes as unnecessary and wasteful.

Over the objections of Playa del Rey residents, the State Park and Recreation Commission has approved long-range plans to build a park for the disabled and a 688-space parking lot on Dockweiler State Beach.

Neighbors said the parking lot and park, at two locations south of Marina del Rey, would be a waste of money and would needlessly reduce the size of the beach.

They said that Dockweiler Beach has no need for such facilities because crowds are kept to a minimum by jets that roar overhead from Los Angeles International Airport and fumes that drift across the street from the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant.

But park commissioners voted to include the parking lot and park in the Dockweiler State Beach General Plan, which will direct development of the beach between Marina del Rey and Manhattan Beach for the next 20 years.

Commissioners said the facilities may eventually be needed to accommodate an increasing number of visitors to the beach. They noted that the proposed Playa Vista development nearby is one day supposed to house up to 28,000 people, and that the Century Freeway (105) will soon make it easier to get to the beach.

State park officials assured neighbors that additional hearings would be held before the parking lot or park are built.

The parking lot proposal was initiated by Los Angeles city officials, then dropped and taken up by the county.

The Los Angeles City Bureau of Engineering had suggested that a parking lot near the north end of the four-mile-long strand could accommodate workers who are rebuilding the Hyperion Sewage Treatment Plant.

But last May, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter responded to the neighborhood complaints by asking the bureau to withdraw the proposal. City engineers eventually agreed.

By that time, however, bureaucratic wheels had begun to turn.

Officials in the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors had already proposed the amendment to the state Dockweiler Beach plan in order to permit construction of the parking lot. The county officials also proposed a series of other improvements, including new bathrooms and an expanded recreational vehicle park.

County officials also had decided they liked the parking plan--even if it had not been needed for the sewer plant workers--because they could convert the lot to beach parking.

“The (attendance) trend is clearly increasing, and it’s very reasonable to assume that in the long term there will be a need for more parking lots,” said Wayne Woodruff, of the state park staff.

The park for the disabled, across from Del Rey Lagoon Park, was proposed by Galanter. A developer of nearby condominiums would pay for the improvement to compensate for access to the beach that his project blocked just to the south.

But neighbors of the proposed park said they don’t want to lose an inch of sand. They said the park, to be built alongside their homes, would attract troublemakers more than disabled people.

“We already have a problem with gangs and noise at the existing park across the street,” said Donna Trapp. “We are asking that you not move the same problems right outside our homes.”

But park commissioners said their primary responsibility is to improve access to the beach.

“There is no question there is going to be growth and a need there,” said Commissioner Pauline Des Granges.

The commission voted 7 to 0 to approved the parking lot and the park for the disabled.