Coastal Commission Tosses a Bone to Ballona Opponents

OPINION: While I post this article as an Opinion piece, please consider the exhaustive references throughout, listed at the end. -DK

As our Department of Fish and Wildlife finalizes the Environmental Impact Report for the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project (1), a familiar small cadre of opponents launched their latest attack to stop creation of Los Angeles’ second largest public open space natural habitat park. At the California Coastal Commission’s public meeting on May 8, these folks turned 180 degrees from past positions and now want nothing done -- no restoration at all. Their strategy seems only to create conflict, even if by completely contradicting themselves (2) with a rehash of old, tired untruths. Don't take my word for it. Click on the link at Reference No. 2 and watch the meeting video. Click on the film reel icon at Item No. 13.a. to hear the Ballona item.

As you'll see in the meeting video, the Coastal Commission handled the matter very properly in the public's interest, having dealt repeatedly with these same intervenors on the Malibu Lagoon Restoration Project (3), iceplant removal at Ballona (4), the Oxford Lagoon Restoration (5) and scores of other coastal development matters.

When completed, the 600-acre Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve project will provide nearly 10 miles of new bicycle and pedestrian walking paths, including two new bridges, educational interpretive displays, restrooms and parking near the Marina Del Rey Fisherman’s Village (6). Hundreds of acres of renewed wetlands and wildlife-rich upland habitat, including a reshaped Ballona Creek channel, will be ringed by this extraordinary public access, patrolled by rangers. The project is supported by Heal the Bay, Surfrider Foundation, Friends of Ballona Wetlands and a coalition (7) of other regional environmental groups.

Above: Artist’s rendering of the completed Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project

Why would anyone oppose such an exceptional and sorely needed public open space project? To understand this, a brief history is in order.

A Brief History

In the mid-1970s, billionaire Howard Hughes’ death prompted his successor corporation, Summa, to develop a mega-city they called Playa Vista on its property, stretching from Centinela Avenue all the way to the sea. Earlier Marina Del Rey construction had primed 200 acres of Hughes’ wetlands property for development by burying it 12-17 feet beneath 3 million yards of soil dredged from the Ballona Wetlands, while converting those dredged areas to a Marina - a double whammy for the Ballona Wetlands. The present Fish and Wildlife plan would dig out all that weedy dirt and restore the buried wetlands, ringed by a trails system built atop the re-purposed fill dirt.

Above: While one area of the Ballona Wetlands was dredged during the 1950-60s to create Marina Del Rey, adjacent wetlands (photo center-left) were buried beneath the dredged mud, making the land suitable for development. The state purchased the land in 2003 and plans to dig out the fill dirt as part of the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project.

Playa Del Rey resident Ruth Lansford and her allies formed Friends of Ballona Wetlands to stop this madness, and successfully sued the Coastal Commission, which had granted Summa a development permit. Wisely taking half a loaf in a settlement agreement rather than risking the whole in a court trial, Friends settled the lawsuit with the Commission and developer, preserving a little over 300 acres of the remaining ~600 left of Ballona (8).

Since the Friends' lawsuit excluded areas east of Lincoln Blvd., outside of the Coastal Commission's jurisdiction, Summa was able to develop Playa Vista Phase 1 there. However, the settlement allowed the Friends' freedom to object to Phase 2, which could have extended into the remaining ~300 or so acres west of Lincoln. The agreement also mandated the Freshwater Marsh, built with Playa Vista dollars and required an ecosystem there superior to the existing habitat (long plowed under by truck farming).

Above: The Hughes Airport and factories, which eventually became the Playa Vista Community

The Friends’ settlement was roundly criticized and mischaracterized by individuals who formed the very splinter groups that addressed the Commission on May 8. They proclaimed they would stop the entire Playa Vista development, but all their lawsuits failed, including one petition (9) to stop the Freshwater Marsh, which flourishes today (10).

As it turned out, the public awareness and opposition created by the Friends' lawsuit helped persuade Summa’s ultimate successor, Playa Capital, to eventually sell the remaining 300 acres of buried wetland west of The 90 Freeway and north of Ballona Creek to the Department of Fish and Wildlife. Even this transaction, which added to the Ecological Reserve the wetlands acreage buried during Marina construction, was criticized by the splinter groups (11). Playa Vista ultimately developed its present day footprint, but not without further trials and tribulations (12).

The splinter groups, including Marcia Hanscom’s Ballona Institute/Wetlands Action Network/Wetlands Defense Fund, Walter Lamb’s Ballona Wetlands Land Trust, Patricia McPherson’s Grassroots Coalition and Rex Frankel’s Ballona Ecosystem Education Project, continued to oppose the Playa Vista Development in the courts or permit proceedings, but they only succeeded in “perfecting” the Playa Vista Environmental Impact Report and extracting additional mitigation requirements, including more park space within Playa Vista and methane controls for buildings there (13). So, despite their efforts to stop all of it, a smaller Playa Vista was eventually built, and the splinter groups still grouse about it to this day (and did at the May 8 meeting).

Above: The Ballona Freshwater Marsh and its upstream riparian corridor were just a few of the positive outcomes of the Friends’ lawsuit settlement with the Coastal Commission and Playa Vista developers. The Corridor and Marsh cleanse urban runoff from Playa Vista and Westchester.

The Friends' settlement, the land sale to our state and the ultimate construction of Playa Vista (albeit significantly downsized) must have irritated Hanscom, Lamb, McPherson and Frankel. They grudgingly now oppose the Great Park project apparently for no reason other than score-settling. Unfortunately, other uninformed or misguided people continue to support them.

The Coastal Commission Sends Them Packing, Again

At the start of all Coastal Commission meetings, the Commission allows any member of the public to speak briefly on coastal matters not on the meeting agenda. The "brand new" intervenors recently and repeatedly abused this privilege by speaking Ballona conspiratorial nonsense at several Commission meetings over the past year. In response, Commissioners in effect “tossed the dog a bone” by scheduling a special Ballona Informational Item at the May 8th, 2019 meeting, where these opponents laid out their strategy for all to see and hear.

Again, you can watch and listen to them for yourselves via meeting video at this Link (2): http://cal-span.org/unipage/?site=cal-span&owner=CCC&date=2019-05-08. Click on the film reel icon at Item No. 13.a. to hear the Ballona item.

Above: Ruth Lansford, heroine and Founder of Friends of Ballona Wetlands, addresses the California Coastal Commission on May 8, 2019.

The May 8th meeting began with factual, informative presentations by Coastal Commission staff, Santa Monica Bay Project scientists and California Department of Fish and Wildlife management about the coming Great Park project. Friends founder Ruth Lansford and others lauded the multi-decade efforts of scores of scientists, engineers and other environmental professionals to bring our Great Park project to the final environmental review stage. Then came the hyperbole and exaggeration from McPherson, Hanscom, Lamb and Frankel.

Above: Before and After photos of the San Dieguito Wetlands Restoration, near Del Mar. The Ballona splinter groups peddle fear of excavation and grading, concealing from the public the successful end results. Over 200 California coastal wetland restorations, including the Ballona Freshwater Marsh, have employed these methods. Ballona will be among the last.

McPherson began the obfuscation with a 15-minute dissertation about how the state agencies trying to restore Ballona were acting illegally and in cahoots with Playa Vista. McPherson projected decades-old court papers and other documents as props to her wild, Alex Jones-style “deep state” conspiracy theory, falsely alleging that current restoration plans will doom ground water resources in the area.

As if it had any relevance to restoring Ballona, McPherson alleged that Playa Vista was dumping freshwater into the sewers, but was later corrected by Dr. Edith Read, who manages the Freshwater Marsh and Riparian Corridor. Dr. Read testified that all Playa Vista and some Westchester urban runoff and basement dewatering is in fact routed through the Corridor and Marsh, as designed.

Next came Hanscom, publicly admonished by Coastal Commissioners in 2012 for her frivolous and costly petition opposing the successful Malibu Lagoon restoration (14). In that case, Coastal staff were compelled to prepare a 993-page rebuttal report to Hanscom’s petition, at taxpayer expense.

Hanscom also foretold a gloom-and-doom conspiracy theory about how the deep gas storage facility operated in Playa Del Rey will threaten any Ballona restoration, and therefore the wetlands restoration should be stopped. Hanscom made more unsubstantiated or knowingly false statements about illegal operations, non-existent endangered species (15), conspiracy among regulatory agencies and incredibly, tales about how the restoration plan will aid the Gas Company’s future operations. She concluded her remarks by suggesting the shallow excavation and grading needed to remove the fill dirt from past Marina construction will release a hellfire and brimstone natural gas catastrophe. Ms. Hanscom has made similar outrageous claims before (24).

Having heard quite enough, Commission Chair Dayna Bochco wisely limited subsequent commenters to one minute, leaving scant time for Lamb, who unleashed a fusillade of insults at Chair Bochco for “rigging” the informational hearing to favor the restoration project. One of the original Playa Vista litigants along with Frankel (12), Lamb is accomplished at wasting taxpayer money with frivolous lawsuits (16) (17).

Among the speakers that followed, including Frankel, several parroted the impossible yarn that Ballona was historically a freshwater marsh, and therefore should not be restored to saltwater (even though the land sits adjacent to the ocean with tidal access via Ballona Creek). My previous articles on hydrology explain how Ballona was always a saltwater, tidal marsh (18, 19). Aside from failing to meet the state's regional goals for Ballona (20), low relief freshwater marsh in heavily populated areas also poses serious public health risks, which I will address in a future Patch article.

The May 8th hearing concluded with Commission Executive Director John Ainsworth reminding Commissioners that it will be several years before the Ballona project makes its way to the Commission for a Coastal Permit vote. The opponents will surely litigate the Great Park project until the state Court of Appeals sends them packing, as they and the Coastal Commission did for Malibu Lagoon, the Freshwater Marsh and many other restoration projects.

Let's continually remind our elected officials that we want our Great Park and our Ballona Wetlands properly restored, as our state has proposed, and has succeeded at hundreds of sites before all along the Golden State coastline (21).

Enjoy your Ballona Wetlands!

References:

(1) Environmental Impact Report for the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project. https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=149710&inline

(2) California Coastal Commission May 8, 2019 Public Meeting, Item No. 13b. Video Archive Link.

(3) Coastal Commission Denies Revocation of Malibu Lagoon Permit. Malibu Patch. August 8, 2012. https://patch.com/california/malibu/coastal-commission-denies-revocation-of-malibu-lagoon-permit also> Revocation Request No. R-4-07-098 (California Dept. of Parks and Recreation, Malibu), Item No. 4.5.a. https://cal-span.org/unipage/?site=cal-span&owner=CCC&date=2012-08-08&site=cal-span&owner=CCC&date=2012-08-08 and https://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2012/8/W4.5a-8-2012.pdf

(4) Ballona Institute and Sierra Club on the Wrong Side of Nature, Again. Marina Del Rey Patch. March 18, 2016. https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/ballona-institute-sierra-club-wrong-side-nature-again

also> Application No. 5-15-1427. California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve. California Coastal Commission Meeting March 10, 2016 Item No. 25.b.

(5) Enemies of Oxford Lagoon? Marina Del Rey Patch. December 17, 2014. https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/enemies-oxford-lagoon

(6) The Exceptional Public Access Plan for Ballona. Venice-Mar Vista Patch. September 17, 2018. https://patch.com/california/venice/exceptional-public-access-plan-ballona-wetlands

(7) http://wetlandsrestoration.org/about/

(8) Foes of Playa Vista Project Become Its Friend. Los Angeles Times. October 21, 1990.https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-10-21-we-4188-story.html

(9) California Coastal Commission. April 10, 2001. Denial of Petition to Revoke Coastal Development Permit, Ballona Freshwater Marsh. Denied Petitioner: Marcia Hanscom, Wetlands Action Network. Application 5-91-463A2

(10) Ballona Freshwater Wetlands. Report of Monitoring, Operation, and Maintenance. October 1, 2012 - September 30, 2013. Prepared for: Ballona Wetlands Conservancy. Edith Read PhD, E Read and Associates, Inc. and Eric Strecker, Geosyntec Consultants. February 28, 2014.

(11) Ruth Lansford. Personal Communications. June 15, 2019. Note: Ms. Lansford neither agrees with nor endorses all of this article’s content. The land sale was led by then Governor Gray Davis, who made clear that all dissident organizations must agree or it would not happen. It almost failed when Marcia Hanscom (i.e. the Ballona Institute) sent out an email implying the Trust for Public Land, which was brokering the deal, of inflating the price to get a greater commission. Lansford's L.A. Times letter to the editor, stating that if the deal failed, someone would have to answer the question: 'Who lost Ballona?' persuaded the dissidents to go along, after which they proudly took credit for making it happen. Allegedly, Hanscom flew to Sacramento and called on the press, claiming credit for the deal.

(12) California Court of Appeals, Decision B231965, November 9, 2011. Ballona Wetlands Land Trust and Ballona Ecosystem Education Project v. City of Los Angeles. http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2011/20111109_docket-B231965_opinion.pdf

(13) Los Angeles Times. December 11, 2009. Final Phase of Playa Vista Approved. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-dec-11-la-me-playa-vista11-2009dec11-story.html

(14) Coastal Commission Denies Revocation of Malibu Lagoon Permit. Malibu Patch, August 7, 2012. https://patch.com/california/malibu/coastal-commission-denies-revocation-of-malibu-lagoon-permit also> CCC Meeting Video Archive https://cal-span.org/unipage/?site=cal-span&owner=CCC&date=2012-08-08&site=cal-span&owner=CCC&date=2012-08-08 and https://documents.coastal.ca.gov/reports/2012/8/W4.5a-8-2012.pdf

(15) Endangered Species at Ballona? Marina Del Rey Patch. August 17, 2018. https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/endangered-species-ballona-heard-it-through-grapevine also> Chapter 3.4 , Reference No. 1 https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=149710&inline

(16) EPA Rebukes Ballona Land Distrust. Marina Del Rey Patch. October 28, 2014. https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/epa-rebukes-ballona-land-distrust

(17) Ballona Benghazi? No, Just Ballona Bush-League. Marina Del Rey Patch. February 18, 2016. https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/ballona-benghazi-no-just-ballona-bush-league also> Court Order https://www.smbrc.ca.gov/about_us/agendas/2016feb/memo_gb_re_bwlt_v_smbrc_020816.pdf

(18) Ballona Wetlands Hydrology. Marina Del Rey Patch. August 3, 2018. https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/ballona-wetlands-hydrology-hard-science-made-softer

(19) Ballona Mollusks: Links to the Past. Marina Del Rey Patch. July 13, 2018. https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/ballona-mollusks-links-past

(20) California decided that Ballona shall be restored, and that an abundance of high quality, productive wetland and upland habitats shall be created, enhanced or preserved, accessible by regulated public access.https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/ballona-wetlands-restoration-our-long-road-trip-together-part-one

(21) 15 Years of Wetlands Restoration Success. Marina Del Rey Patch. January 7, 2015. https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/15-years-wetland-restoration-success

(22) 20/20 Foresight. Marina Del Rey Patch. October 18, 2015. https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/2020-foresight

(23) Gray Davis' Well-Deserved Honor. Marina Del Rey Patch. September 14, 2014. https://patch.com/california/marinadelrey/gray-davis-well-deserved-honor-0

(24) The Argonaut. August 24, 2006. City consultants say Play Vista's methane gas mitigation systems do not impact environment. https://argonautnews.com/city-consultants-say-playa-vistas-methane-gas-mitigation-systems-do-not-impact-environment/