City Planners Put Off Hearing on Vast Project

After receiving numerous requests for more time to analyze environmental impact reports on the huge Playa Vista project, Los Angeles city planners have postponed a public hearing on the development until December.

The public meeting, originally set for Wednesday in Westchester, was rescheduled for Dec. 2.

In a strongly worded letter to Planning Director Con Howe, Los Angeles Councilwoman Ruth Galanter called Wednesday’s meeting premature and demanded that it be postponed.

“Given the nature and volume of the material and the importance of the proposed project to the community and the city as a whole, I believe that holding the only official public hearing (on the report) less than a month after its release is completely unacceptable,” Galanter said.

The councilwoman, whose district includes most of the Playa Vista property between Marina del Rey and the Westchester Bluffs also asked that the public comment period be extended beyond the Nov. 16 deadline.

City planner Dick Takase said the city agreed to extend the deadline to Dec. 16.

Takase said the city had received numerous requests for more time to review the environmental reports on the first phase of the Playa Vista project and the overall master plan for the development. Together, the documents are eight inches thick and more than 2,000 pages long.

The reports detail the effects of building one of the largest development projects in Los Angeles history on prime property long owned by the late industrialist Howard Hughes.

As envisioned by developer Maguire Thomas Partners, Playa Vista would be a new city-within-a-city where 28,625 residents would live and nearly 20,000 people would work.

The environmental impact reports show that even with its innovative design and unprecedented measures to widen streets, install modern traffic-management technology and encourage alternatives to the automobile, Playa Vista would still have significant adverse effects on traffic and air quality.

The rescheduled public hearing will be held Dec. 2 from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Airport Marina Hotel in Westchester. Copies of the environmental reports are available for review at area public libraries, at Galanter’s field office in Westchester and at Planning Department offices in City Hall.