By Jorge Casuso
January 29, 2025 -- Affordable housing -- which has been largely ignored in crafting a plan for the future use of Santa Monica Airport land -- took center stage at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.
Dozens of housing advocates came out in force -- and wrote a flurry of letters -- to lobby for including affordable housing in the plan to build a "Great Park" on some 220 acres slated to become available when the airport closes at the end of 2028.
Significantly, the supporters included two of the major political forces that played a key role in electing four pro-housing Councilmembers -- Santa Monicans for Renters Rights (SMRR) and the hotel workers union.
"SMRR urges you to include the creation of 3,000 below-market-rate housing units" in two of the three scenarios being explored for the site, said the group's co-chair Michael Soloff.
"Creating these units will require only a fraction of the 200 acres available at the airport, so it will not preclude the creation of a great park, which SMRR also supports."
Supporters of building a park, who also came out in force Tuesday, worry that including housing may require voters to revisit Measure LC, which was approved in 2014 to require the land to be used as a park.
However, City Attorney Doug Sloan informed the Council in a memo that a ballot measure may not be needed since State law could override Measure LC and require the City to build more housing if the airport closes.
Former Mayor Pam O'Connor urged the Council to reserve for a park what is one of the LA metro area's largest unbuilt tracts of land.
"I'm still a fervent supporter of housing," said O'Connor, who served a record 24 years on the Council. "There are many places in Santa Monica where housing can be built.
"But it can't and will be impossible for the City to ever acquire and consolidate land for parks," she said. "The airport area is an invaluable open space resource, and it must be treated that way."
Former Mayor Paul Rosenstein, who in the 1990s pushed for concentrating housing Downtown, argued that both uses can be accommodated on the sprawling site at the southeastern edge of the city.
"We can have a great park, park-related commercial and needed housing," Rosenstein wrote in a letter to the Council. "The airport encompasses so much space that it can accommodate these uses.
"They can also help reduce the gigantic costs that it will take to make and maintain a park."
City staff had raised the funding issue in its report to the Council, which noted that building a "great park" is enormously costly, and Santa Monica is strapped for cash ("City may Need to Explore Housing at Airport," January 27, 2025).
The dearth of funding was raised by several Council members as the City ushered the Airport Conversion Project into its next phase on Tuesday after gathering public input that strongly supported a park.
"I'm extremely concerned about the economic feasibility of the project," said Councilmember Caroline Torosis.
Councilmember Jesse Zwick echoed her concerns. "How can sole recreational uses be economically self-sustaining?" he said. "The park isn't really sustaining it."
Zwick was the most vocal advocate on the dais for including housing on the airport site. There seems to be, he said, "a lack of appreciation for the vitality the multiple uses bring to a space, specifically also commercial and residential uses.
"Dense housing requires parks, and I totally agree with that," Zwick said. "Parks also require dense housing to be vibrant and active places."
"I think it's worth considering a mix of uses to make sure that it is a lively and vital place."
Councilmember Natalya Zernitskaya agreed that "housing should be considered" in at least one of the three scenarios the Council will hone during the next phase of the project.