City Seeks Funds to Buy Playa Vista Lot

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to look for funds to acquire as public parkland more than 400 acres of Westside land now scheduled to be part of the proposed Playa Vista development.

About half of the possible acquisition, located just south of Marina del Rey, has already been set aside for wetlands restoration as part of an agreement between Playa Vista and the city.

But the council wants to expand that preservation and recreation zone and transfer it all to public ownership.

If the idea succeeds, development would not extend west of Lincoln Boulevard, according to council member Ruth Galanter, whose district includes Playa Vista and who sponsored the council action. “It’s more than symbolic. It’s a straightforward decision that we want to preserve the wetlands,” she explained.

However, Galanter said the city does not have the funds to buy the land and will lobby at the state and federal level for purchase moneys. She did not offer cost estimates.

Neal Sacharow, a spokesman for Playa Vista Co., which owns the land, said his company would consider selling the area, among other options.

The firm will continue with its proposal for the first phase of its huge commercial and housing complex on portions of property east of Lincoln and mainly south of Ballona Creek, he said. The builders want government approval for more than 2,000 residential units, 900,000 square feet of offices and additional retail space

“We will explore possibilities with community, city and state,” he said. Sacharow said the company would expect fair market value and noted that a neighboring 68-acre parcel of land, just east of Lincoln, also part of the proposed Play Vista development, was recently valued at $100 million.

Playa Vista opponents said the council vote was a positive move but wished it went further to stop the project altogether.

“It’s definitely a step forward to protecting the entire Ballona Wetland ecosystem,” said longtime environmental activist Kathy Knight, of the Airport Marina Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Galanter’s measure initially included a proposal encouraging private development in areas east of Lincoln Boulevard. But Galanter, while still expressing support for that easterly construction, said she dropped the reference to the private development because of concerns by environmental activists and other council members about such issues as seismic safety and possible underground methane gas seepage there.

The city is now studying those environmental issues.

Playa Vista has become an issue in the mayoral race. State Controller and mayoral candidate Kathleen Connell recently questioned the safety of development proposals for the eastern lands and called for additional environmental reviews.

The state owns an adjacent parcel of land east of Lincoln and north of the creek. Playa Vista has considered acquiring that land, something Connell wants to block. Galanter has long championed the construction of affordable housing in that area, known as Area C, which was first obtained by the state in 1988 to satisfy $75 million in inheritance taxes owed by the Howard Hughes estate.