Huge Playa Vista Study Due Today

The city plans today to release a massive report on Playa Vista’s plans for the second and final phase of the Westside development, and already some environmental activists are signaling that they plan to fight any further building at the site.

The unveiling of the so-called draft environmental impact report, comprising 23 volumes of reports and supporting materials, will kick off a 60-day comment period during which agencies and residents may weigh in on the developer’s plans for what it considers the centerpiece of the sprawling project.

Playa Vista opponents said they probably would ask for more time to digest the hefty document.

Playa Vista executives contend that the 111-acre section -- which included an abandoned airstrip once used by Howard Hughes -- would provide a balanced mix of housing, retail space, offices and open areas.

Known as the Village, it is designed to serve as a bridge between the Playa Vista residential areas being built just to the west and a planned commercial campus on the east that was approved in 1993 as part of the first phase but has not yet attracted any takers. As such, the Village would provide such amenities as a grocery store, dry cleaners and restaurants.

Playa Vista said it plans to build 2,600 housing units in the Village -- including apartments, townhomes, lofts and condos. The units would range in price from the low $200,000s to more than $1 million.

Also planned are 175,000 square feet of office space and 40,000 square feet of restaurants and other community services. Nearly 12 acres would be restored as stream and bluff habitat.

“The Village will become the heart of Playa Vista,” said Doug Moreland, senior vice president of Playa Vista.

Some environmentalists, however, hastened Wednesday to indicate that they would strongly oppose the proposal.

“Playa Vista Phase 2 is not something we’re thrilled with,” said Marcia Hanscom, executive director of the Wetlands Action Network, a longtime opponent. She said her organization and other groups would demand that Playa Vista adhere fully to state environmental laws. “If not,” she added, “there are numerous entities that will be considering litigation.”

Hanscom, who said she was not expecting the environmental report until fall, added that environmental and community groups probably would ask the city to extend the comment period.

“That’s a massive amount of information to have to analyze,” she said. “We’ll have to secure experts to comment on these things.”

In the environmental report, Playa Vista executives said they planned to spend millions of dollars on improvements to roads and intersections in the already heavily trafficked area. Still, they acknowledged that the Village might adversely affect air quality and traffic. Playa Vista also acknowledged that construction of Phase 2 would obscure views of the Westchester Bluffs from Jefferson Boulevard.

“Are we solving traffic problems for the world? No. Have we identified 100 serious bottlenecks that the city and state have no money to fix? Yes, we have,” said Playa Vista President Steve Soboroff.

Playa Vista said it also would buy six buses for Culver City and would expand a planned shuttle service to include the Fox Hills area, Marina del Rey and Howard Hughes Center.

Traffic will be the chief concern for Mar Vista residents, said Tom Ponton, chairman of the Mar Vista Community Council. “The consensus I keep hearing is that anything they do will just move the traffic out of Playa Vista into Mar Vista,” Ponton said.

Kathy Knight, wetlands coordinator for Spirit of the Sage Council, said the Village area should be acquired by the public and restored as an interactive wildlife area where children could learn about nature.

She said such a use would complement plans to restore about 500 acres west of Lincoln Boulevard as wetlands. Playa Vista has said it is close to reaching an agreement to sell about 200 acres and to donate an additional 300 acres west of Lincoln Boulevard to the state.

“We need natural open space much more in Los Angeles than luxury housing,” Knight said.

When Playa Vista revealed its plans for the Village last fall, Soboroff emphasized that the proposal was for a “smaller, greener development” than was originally envisioned.

Aspects of the original vision of Playa Vista as an area where people could live, work and shop have been slow to come together. The concept got a boost recently when Electronic Arts, the leading maker of video games, confirmed that it plans to create an amenities-rich campus at Playa Vista for 1,000 employees.

Selling the Village area to the public for open space would defeat much of the purpose, one city planner said.

“Having a mixture of uses is important,” said Gordon Hamilton, deputy director of planning for the Department of City Planning. “If there’s a gap where the Village is currently proposed, that can’t be achieved.

“The Village is really the nucleus. That will be the gathering spot -- that sense of place we’re hoping to achieve.”

Hamilton said the City Council embraced that vision in 1993, but he acknowledged that the council has had wholesale change.

“The question will be,” he said, “whether the new council agrees this is the direction the project should be headed.”