Santa Monica's Airport Could Become A Spectacular New Park, But Who Pays For It?

SANTA MONICA, CA — Santa Monica has offered its clearest glimpse yet of what could replace its airport: an expansive public park featuring natural landscapes, sports facilities, walking trails and community gathering spaces. But with the airport scheduled to close in just over two years, city officials are confronting a challenge that could determine how much of that vision becomes reality, who will pay for it?

The city's draft illustrative master plan, unveiled at an Oct. 17 community event, proposes transforming the approximately 192-acre airport property into a metropolitan park combining natural habitats, recreation, arts and cultural activities.

The proposal is the latest milestone in the Santa Monica Airport Conversion Project, a multiyear planning effort led by the city and design firm Sasaki. It builds on more than two years of community engagement and a series of earlier planning concepts. Just four days before the unveiling, the City Council took a separate step toward addressing the project's financial future, approving a motion to explore creating a nonprofit Great Park Conservancy that could help raise private donations and support the park's long-term operations.

The Oct. 13 vote did not establish a conservancy or commit the city to funding one. Instead, it directed staff to return in spring 2027 with a study examining how such an organization might work.

Eight Districts, One Ambitious Vision

The new master plan divides the former airport site into eight interconnected districts, each designed around a different combination of recreational, environmental and community uses. On the western side, areas designated Immersive Nature and The Meadow would provide quieter landscapes emphasizing planting, habitat and opportunities to experience nature.

Other sections, including The Stroll and The Lawn, would offer pathways, open space and room for informal recreation and gatherings. Farther east, Active Sports would accommodate more intensive recreational activities, while districts identified as The Heart, Arts & Culture and Urban Edge would introduce additional gathering places, cultural programming and connections with the surrounding city.

The design also seeks to connect the future park with existing recreational spaces, including Clover Park and Airport Park, while providing routes for people to move through the property. The plans remain illustrative rather than final. Individual facilities, their precise locations and the order in which they are built could change as the city gathers further feedback and completes environmental review.

In its Oct. 6 announcement, the city described the unveiling as the beginning of the fourth of five planning phases, with cost estimates and implementation recommendations still to be developed.

What Would Be Built First?

Rather than attempt to transform the entire airport property immediately, planners have proposed an initial phase focused on Immersive Nature, Active Sports and connections into and through the park. Those connections include a link with Clover Park and a proposed loop through the new recreational space.

According to the October presentation boards, the city has secured Proposition 4 and Measure A funding to help advance the Immersive Nature area and its connection to the surrounding park network. Additional funding sources are being pursued. That represents an important early commitment, although the materials do not establish that the entire first phase — much less the full park — has been financed.

The city also pointed to public feedback in selecting its initial priorities. A framework survey conducted from Feb. 18 through April 28 attracted more than 4,200 responses, with the proposed first-phase areas receiving support levels of 78 percent, 77 percent and 76 percent, according to the presentation. The results reflect participants in the planning survey, not a citywide referendum.

Under the preliminary schedule, the illustrative master plan could be adopted in spring 2027, with environmental review completed in summer 2028. The airport is scheduled to close Dec. 31, 2028, and the city anticipates beginning the first phase of park development in 2029. Planning and construction of later phases could continue well into the 2030s.

A New Approach To Paying For The Park?

The challenge of financing both construction and long-term maintenance was central to the City Council's Oct. 13 discussion of Item 16.C. Councilmember Dan Hall, who introduced the motion with Councilmember Ellis Raskin and Mayor Caroline Torosis, argued that the city must plan for the continuing expense of operating a major public park, not simply the cost of building it.

"The cities that solved the first capital problem and forgot the second are cautionary tales," Hall told colleagues.

The proposed Great Park Conservancy would be examined as a possible vehicle for attracting philanthropic support while maintaining public accountability and city oversight. The study will consider potential organizational models, governance structures, fundraising responsibilities, the city's involvement in establishing an organization and whether public money should be used to provide initial funding.

Hall emphasized that private contributions should not translate into private control of the property. He also raised the possibility of eventually exploring a dedicated Great Park Enterprise Fund and an enhanced infrastructure financing district, although neither mechanism was established by the council's action.

Councilmember Lana Negrete moved the item, Councilmember Barry Snell seconded it, and the motion passed on a voice vote without recorded opposition or abstentions.

Keeping The Park Public

The conservancy proposal has also raised questions about how the land would be protected and whether a new nonprofit should serve the airport property alone or Santa Monica's entire parks system. Written comments submitted to the council included support from the Santa Monica Airport2Park Foundation, alongside requests for stronger safeguards to ensure that the property remains public parkland.

Andrew Wilder, chair of the Airport Commission, writing in his personal capacity, urged the city to examine permanent protections for the park and a dedicated mechanism to reinvest revenue generated on the property. Recreation and Parks Commissioner Sonam Makker, also writing in an individual capacity, asked the council to consider a citywide parks foundation as an alternative to an organization focused exclusively on the airport site.

The land's future is already subject to Measure LC, the voter-approved 2014 charter amendment restricting redevelopment of the airport property to parks, public recreation and open space unless voters authorize another use. The current draft plan follows that framework, excluding uses that would require a further public vote under the measure.

What Happens On Jan. 1, 2029?

Although the airport is scheduled to close at the end of 2028, the property will not become a completed metropolitan park overnight. During the council discussion, Torosis stressed the importance of having activities and public programming ready when aviation operations end.

She pointed specifically to Jan. 1, 2029, as a date when the city should be prepared to begin activating the site, even as the longer-term transformation continues.

That distinction is likely to become increasingly important as the closure approaches: opening the property for public use is one challenge; building and maintaining the park envisioned in the master plan is another. For now, Santa Monica is advancing both the design process and the discussion over how to finance it.

Residents can examine the plans and follow upcoming opportunities to participate through the Santa Monica Airport Conversion Project, including its Learn & Engage and Resources pages.

The vision for Santa Monica's Great Park is taking shape. Whether the city can secure the money and organizational support to deliver it remains the question that could define the project's next chapter.