Trust’s Playa Lawsuit Rejected

A Los Angeles judge has denied a request to halt excavation at the Playa Vista development, finding that the possible environmental impact of the work was considered by city officials when they approved the project a decade ago.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Robert L. Hess ruled Tuesday that city building officials acted within their discretion when they issued permits to expand an erosion-control basin and to stockpile dirt in an undeveloped area of the 600-acre property near Playa del Rey.

Playa Capital Co. is developing the land for residential and commercial use.

The Ballona Wetlands Land Trust had sued Los Angeles last August to stop construction, arguing that the city issued permits without the required environmental impact reports.

The city’s Department of Building and Safety issued a permit in 2001 to expand a temporary erosion-control basin and to construct a maintenance road and dirt swales. Another permit was issued two years later, authorizing the company to continue to stockpile 500,000 cubic yards of dirt on the site.

Attorneys for the trust argued that the city failed to consider the potential adverse environmental impact of the construction work, including the risk of sediment entering Centinela Creek during storms and the destruction of wetlands habitat.

But Hess ruled that the construction-related activities were not “substantial changes” to the first phase of the project approved by the city in 1993. That phase included plans to build more than 3,200 residential units, along with retail and commercial space. About 3,000 people currently reside there.

“Yet again, the court has ruled that the city and Playa Vista are acting in full compliance with the law,” project spokesman Steve Sugerman said Thursday.

Attorneys for the wetlands trust did not return calls for comment.

The developer is scheduled to return to the city Planning Commission next week for a vote on the project’s next phase, which includes 2,600 more residential units as well as retail space.