Report Outlines Impact of Huge Playa Vista Project

A detailed portrait of a vast new city within a city on the Westside emerged Thursday with the release of environmental impact reports on the massive Playa Vista project, a community that eventually would be home to 28,625 residents and a workplace for almost 20,000 people.

The densely packed community is envisioned as a place where offices, residences, shops, restaurants, hotels and a marina would be built close enough to each other to discourage driving.

But the environmental reports--which total more than 2,000 pages and weigh 18 pounds--show that the multibillion-dollar project would still generate a flood of traffic that would aggravate congestion over a large area. It would do so despite unprecedented efforts to widen streets, install the latest traffic-management technology and encourage alternatives to traditional reliance on the automobile. Air pollution would increase, noise levels would grow, energy demands would rise and open space would decrease.

The project’s designers argue that the economic and social benefits of building a self-contained community where residents can live, work, shop and play without having to commute vast distances will outweigh any adverse environmental impacts. The project is to be built on open Los Angeles coastal land between Marina de Rey and the Westchester bluffs.

Nelson Rising, senior partner for developer Maguire Thomas Partners, sees Playa Vista as paving the way to the future of Los Angeles. “The lack of dependence on the single-passenger automobile offers a whole new way of living for Southern California,” he said.

Although Playa Vista is one of the largest developments in the city’s history, Rising portrayed the project as having “limited adverse impacts.”

Over a 10-year period, Maguire Thomas proposes to build 13,085 apartment and condominium units, 5 million square feet of office space, 595,000 square feet of retail space, 1,050 hotel rooms and a yacht harbor with docks for up to 840 boats.

The release of the environmental reports is a major step toward starting construction. Rising said the company plans to seek approval early next year from the city of Los Angeles for the first phase of the project, consisting of 3,246 residential units, 1.25 million square feet of office space, 300 hotel rooms and 35,000 square feet of retail space.

If city approvals are granted on schedule, financing is arranged and no major legal obstacles arise, Rising said, construction could start in late 1993.

The reports suggest that three alternatives for the property--building nothing, creating a regional park or converting the planned office space to housing--all would be “environmentally superior” to the proposed development because they would have less effect on traffic and air quality.

The reports point out the benefits of Playa Vista in creating jobs, providing a large amount of housing--15% of which would be reserved for people with low or moderate incomes--and instituting a broad array of environmental programs ranging from reuse of waste water to advanced recycling.

Rising rejects as unrealistic the idea of having no project. He also said he does not believe eliminating the office space would be beneficial because it would eliminate the mix of residential and commercial land uses that is the key to Playa Vista’s design. He also dismissed the park concept, saying a government agency would have to buy the property--and judging from nearby properties, the market value of the unimproved land would probably exceed $1 billion.

Although the details of the project’s probable impact have not been known until now, Maguire Thomas’ approach to the development has drawn generally favorable reviews from community groups and some environmentalists.

Maguire Thomas’ plans call for a community to rise from the flat, low-lying land south and east of Marina del Rey. The property was long owned by industrialist Howard Hughes, and the company he created, Summa Corp., retains a minority interest in the project. The land extends more than three miles inland, from near Santa Monica Bay to the San Diego Freeway. The 1,087-acre site is still largely empty except for two aircraft plants at the eastern end. Summa tried to develop the land in the 1980s, but became embroiled in a protracted legal battle with the Friends of Ballona Wetlands, an environmental group determined to save the marsh that occupies most of the western portion of the property.

In February, 1989, Maguire Thomas took over the stalled project and went to work redesigning it. The revised plan calls for far less commercial development and much more housing.

To settle the legal fight, the developer agreed to preserve and restore 261 acres of the wetlands, which are home to numerous species of birds, including the endangered Belding’s savannah sparrow. To smooth community relations, the company also has held a series of forums to sell the idea of Playa Vista to neighbors.

The settlement between Maguire Thomas and the Friends of Ballona Wetlands calls for the environmental group to refrain from opposing the project. The group’s chairwoman, Ruth Lansford, had not yet reviewed the environmental reports, but she said, “We’re happy with the idea of more residential and less commercial” as previously disclosed by Maguire Thomas.

Before seeking approval to build, the California Environmental Quality Act requires developers to identify any adverse environmental impacts caused by a proposed project and to find ways to offset or mitigate the negative effects.

In Playa Vista’s case, preparing separate environmental reports on the first phase of the project and the overall master plan cost an estimated $4 million, required dozens of consultants and took more than two years.

From the beginning, Maguire Thomas executives and local officials have known that traffic would be the project’s biggest problem.

The magnitude of the challenge is spelled out in great detail in both environmental impact reports. Maguire Thomas wants to discourage use of automobiles by building a mix of residences, offices and shops near each other. Plans call for pedestrian walkways, bicycle paths, an internal shuttle bus system and incentives to encourage office employees to use transit or car pools.

Even so, Playa Vista will generate massive traffic.

The entire project is expected to cause 221,550 new vehicle trips on a typical weekday. How to cope with that traffic in later phases of the project remains an open question. But after months of arduous negotiations, Maguire Thomas and Los Angeles transportation officials believe they have come up with the means to ease most, but not all, of the traffic impact from the first phase.

Developer-financed improvements are to include wider streets, redesigned intersections, computerized traffic signals and buses equipped with electronic devices to speed their movement.

Transportation officials wonder if ways can be found to ease the effects of the entire project. “I think the impacts are going to be so significant that I am kind of at a loss to know how they can be satisfactorily mitigated,” David Gilstrap, a senior transportation engineer for Caltrans, said recently. “I guess it’s like waiting for an 8.0 earthquake. I can wait.”

Playa Vista: City Within a City

Some background on the proposed Playa Vista project:

PROJECT: Office, commercial, residential, hotel and marina complex.

SIZE: 1,087 acres straddling Ballona Creek, including the Ballona Wetlands.

HOUSING: 13,085 residential units--apartments, condominiums and townhouses--in buildings up to eight stories tall. Enough housing for 28,625 residents.

BUSINESS: 5 million square feet of office space, 595,000 square feet of retail space, 1,050 hotel rooms. Total employment estimated at 19,770 jobs.

BOATING: Yacht harbor with 45 acres of water and 600 to 840 boat slips.

PARKING: Spaces for 43,358 vehicles.

STATUS: Draft environmental impact report just released. Project approval needed from the city of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County and the California Coastal Commission, and must be reviewed by regional, state and federal agencies.

SCHEDULE: First phase of construction not likely to begin before late 1993. The initial phase consists of 3,246 residential units, 1.25 million square feet of office space, 300 hotel rooms and 35,000 square feet of retail space.

SOURCE: Maguire Thomas Partners

In the Works

The Playa vista project is planned for a vast tract of land between Marina del Rey and the Westchester bluffs. One of the biggest developments in Los Angeles history, the multibillion-dollar project will stretch westward from near the San Diego Freeway toward Santa Monica Bay. The first phase of the development is shown here with the master plan for the entire project.

Source: Maguire Thomas Partners