By Hector Gonzalez
Special to The Lookout

March 18, 2016 -- At their next meeting, elected leaders in park-starved Santa Monica could approve a wish list of open-space projects for inclusion in a county parks survey aimed at laying the groundwork for future public spending.

Approved by the City's Recreation and Parks Commission in February, the list being recommended for City Council approval next week includes five of the most-needy projects from 15 popular suggestions from residents who attended a special community meeting in January.

It includes:
* Building a sports field on a portion of the Civic Center parking lot.

* Expanding Memorial Park to include the 2.9-acre former Fisher Lumber site.

* Expanding Airport Park onto 12 acres of non-aviation land, adding a recreation center, pool, ice rink and sports field.

* Building a new park and urban greenbelt on City owned land and including a community gardens as one amenity.

Staff, however, is recommending against adding a multi-use recreation facility on on the 12 acres of non-aviation land slated for the Airport Park expansion the Council directed staff to expedite last year.

City Council members in March of last year directed staff to come up with a design process for the sports complex within the next three years. But staff said in Tuesday's report that a clear path to realizing the airport project within that timeline is unfeasible.

Last Friday, a federal appeals court in Pasadena heard the City's appeal of a U.S. District Court judge dismissal of the suit in 2014. A ruling was not immediately announced (Santa Monica Airport Case Gets Hearing Friday, March 11, 2016).

“Instead, for the purposes of the countywide parks needs assessment, council could consider identifying a multi-use recreational facility on City owned land, without specifying the particular location,” staff recommended.

The Council could also toss out the commission's list and create its own list of parks priorities, said staff. Either way, the members must come up with a list of needy parks projects by the end of this month to have it included in the Los Angeles Countywide Comprehensive Parks and Recreation Needs Assessment.

According to the county's measurements, Santa Monica is park poor. While the City has the beach for its backyard, it provides 134 acres of park space for its 92,529 resident, or 1.4 park acres for every 1,000 people.

That compares to a county average of 3.3 park acres per every 1,000 people.
At more than 18 acres, Clover Park next to Santa Monica Airport is the City's largest park, but Santa Monica has three “pocket parks” of less than an acre, not including those along the beach.

Another countywide parks bond measure similar to one voters approved in 1992, which provided an extra $10 million for Santa Monica projects, could bring in millions more in new funding for parks, said staff.

County supervisors Michael Antonovich, generally considered one of the more conservative members of the five-member board, and Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has favored socially progressive initiatives, led the board in ordering the needs assessment in November 2014.

The board's action came as officials were still smarting over the two-thirds rejection by county voters of the “Safe Neighborhood Parks, Youth-Senior Recreation, Beaches-Wildlife Protection Measure,” or Measure P, earlier that month.

Measure P would have generated $54 million a year for local parks programs by continuing the $23 a year parcel tax voters approved under the Safe Neighborhood Parks Tax Measure of 1992.

One big reason why the 2014 meaure failed so badly “was because it came from the top down and not the bottom up,” said the motion by Antonovich and Ridley-Thomas.

“Any future initiatives should be contemplated in a transparent manner that takes into consideration the diverse open space and recreational needs and desires of residents throughout the county,” said the motion.