Santa Monica
LOOKOUT

 

  Santa Monica Real Estate Company ROQUE & MARK Co.(310)828-7525

News Special Reports Archive Links About Editor Send PR    
  Bob KronovetrealtyWe Love Property
Management Headaches!
310-829-9303
 

Flow Against the Grain, Santa Monica Travel and Tourism

Santa Monica Travel & Tourism
 
 
Santa Monica College
  Call (310) 434-4000
 
 
Airport Plan Picks Up Speed

By Jorge Casuso

June 25, 2025 -- The lengthy process to shape the future of Santa Monica Airport will quickly accelerate over the next two weeks as a key political player weighs in and the City Council begins honing in on a preferred scenario.

On Wednesday evening, members of the Santa Monica Democratic Club will vote on a recommendation for the 192 acres of open land slated to be converted into a "great park" when the airport closes at the end of 2028.

The local Club -- one of the key groups that make up the city's liberal political establishment -- called the airport plan "one of the most significant land use issues in Santa Monica’s history."

A record number of members, many of them new, are expected to attend the meeting at the Church in Ocean Park or via zoom to vote on a recommendation by the group's Ad Hoc Airport Committee, according to club officials.

The recommendation made "after months of research, discussion, and debate," calls for creating an "inspirational" Great Park that complies with the 2014 voter-approved Measure LC and "would not trigger a ballot measure before airport closure."

The recommendation also would oppose housing on the site by calling for "financing that prioritizes existing on-site revenue sources, and with no sale or other privatization of the land.”

Advocates of including housing on the site are also expected to make recommendations Wednesday, said Democratic Club president Jon Katz.

Groups pushing for housing include Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR), Santa Monica Forward and the hotel workers union.

"Whatever motion is made, there will be a counter motion," said Katz. "A lot of people have joined (the club) for this."

According to Katz, approximately two-thirds of the ad hoc committee's members, which includes those on all sides of the issue, advocated for excluding housing from the site.

The Democratic Club's vote comes two weeks before the City Council takes testimony and gives direction on "how to proceed into a new, hybrid, preferred scenario," according to an information item sent by Public Works to the City Council Tuesday.

The Council will be presented with three scenarios, with the first excluding housing and commercial development and emphasizing green space that includes sports fields, trails, paths and water features.

The second scenario, in addition to green space, includes 32 acres of housing and commercial development, while the third scenario includes 48 acres of development.

During the next phase of the process, the Council will integrate the comments "into one preferred scenario, and then work with the community for additional feedback," according to the information item from Public Works.

The feedback would come "through community engagement, meeting with boards and commissions and ultimately City Council."

Under Measure LC, any housing or commercial development on the site would require a ballot measure that park advocates worry would derail, if not kill, the plan to build Santa Monica's version of Central Park.

Housing advocates, including SMRR's leaders, have indicated they would not propose a ballot measure until after the airport closes at the end of 2028.

In the information item to the Council, Public Works Director Rick Valte underscored that a firm closing date was set in a resolution adopted by the City Council on February 28, 2017.

"Thus, the decision to close the Airport effective midnight on December 31, 2028, was already made, and no further Council action is required to authorize closure of the Airport," Valte wrote.

"Any change to that direction from a future Council would now require a new resolution be passed and the impacts of such a change would mandate a CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) analysis be completed."

 

 


Back to Lookout News ©1999-2025 surfsantamonica.com. All Rights Reserved. Email About Disclosures