Groups Will Ask Judge to Halt Bulldozing

Environmentalists opposed to the residential and commercial Playa Vista project accused the developers of defying a court order by resuming grading at the site this week and vowed to return to court.

Marcia Hanscom of the Wetlands Action Network said her organization and two others plan to ask a federal judge today for a court order to halt bulldozing at the 1,087-acre site south of Marina del Rey.

The groups are suing the Army Corps of Engineers, claiming the Corps violated the National Environmental Policy Act in issuing a construction permit for Playa Vista.

Last month, U.S. District Judge Ronald S. W. Lew ordered that the permit be rescinded and developers cease construction until the Corps conducts a thorough survey of the project’s environmental impact.

Playa developers roped off wetland areas of the site and began grading a 100-acre plot again Tuesday.

“We’re suggesting they’re in contempt of court,” Hanscom said.

But Playa officials, who plan to appeal Lew’s ruling, said Thursday that their attorneys have interpreted Lew’s order to mean that work must be halted only in 16 acres of wetlands.