By Jorge Casuso
June 27, 2025 -- The Santa Monica Democratic Club Wednesday night overwhelmingly voted to recommend creating a "Great Park" on Airport land when it closes at the end of 2028, while excluding housing on the site.
More than 200 members, many of whom joined to weigh in on the contentious issue, voted after a spirited debate pitting advocates of setting aside the 192 acres of open land for a park and those who pushed for including affordable housing.
The prevailing motion -- which was approved with a 156 to 45 vote -- calls for creating a park "that would not trigger a ballot measure before airport closure" and "with no sale or other privatization of the land.”
The substitute motion -- which was rejected with a 65 to 155 vote -- called for the "inclusion of below market rate housing" in the Environmental Impact Review (EIR) study for redevelopment of the land.
Park advocate Frank Gruber, a former Planning Commissioner, noted that the City's Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) recommended placing housing along transit lines and not on isolated land such as the airport.
Advocates of a Great Park "don't oppose studying housing," Gruber said. "What we're talking about here is getting us through to closure and making sure that the public knows a park is going to be created."
Park advocates worry that adding housing to the site would require a ballot measure that could jeopardize the decision to close the airport by opening the door to a counter measure from aviation interests.
The motion "is just saying wait until closure," said Gruber, who noted he has been a longtime housing advocate. "Calm down. We're all in this together."
Former Planning Commissioner Ralph Mechur argued that "we can have a park, and we can have housing," noting that it's not "either or."
Restricting the land to a park "means turning our backs on our greatest need," Mechur said, adding that below-market-rate housing "can be wonderfully interwoven with a great park."
An isolated park would be costly and create "a traffic generating activity center that turns its back on providing long-term affordable shelter and a forward-looking sustainable neighborhood."
"Let's not believe a park by itself can save us," Mechur said. "Let's be visionary and inclusive."
The Democratic Club's recommendation comes two weeks before the City Council on July 8 is presented with three scenarios for the airport land -- one that excludes housing and commercial development and two that include development on 32 and 48 acres respectively.
