By Jorge Casuso
May 7, 2025 -- Housing and parks advocates faced off over the future of Santa Monica Airport land again Wednesday night, heightening fears the division will be exploited by pro-aviation interests.
The showdown took place at Wednesday night's Planning Commission meeting during a study session updating options for the 192 acres of open land that will become available when the airport closes at the end of 2028.
The city's liberal establishment showed up in force as the hotel workers union and Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights (SMRR) lobbied to include affordable housing on the site.
"It's not an either or, it's a both and," former mayor and SMRR Co-chair Denny Zane told the Commission. "There is a community obligation to help address our housing needs."
SMRR has been pushing to include 3,000 affordable units on the Airport site, which would require local voters to amend Measure LC, a 2014 ballot initiative that only allows a park.
"People were voting to close the airport" and not to "exclusively build a park," Zane said.
But Frank Gruber, a former planning commissioner and a leader of the group Airport2Park, worried a ballot measure would derail, if not kill, the plan to build Santa Monica's Central Park version of a great park.
"We are very anxious, nervous that the aviation industry will come back with another measure," said Gruber, referring to the rival initiative pro Airport advocates placed on the 2014 ballot.
"Their argument will be, 'They'll build a Playa Vista there.' If we present a bait-and-switch to the public, I think they'll win."
Airport Commissioner Joe Pertel warned that two aviation companies at the airport -- Atlantic and Sling -- are revving up multi-million-dollar plans to showcase the century-old airport as a regional hub for new electric aircraft during the 2028 Summer Olympics.
"The threat of aviation is real," Pertel said, adding that he had presented the plans to SMRR leaders. "It's not my paranoia, my fear. They're going to try to divide us.
"There are a lot of people in this city that don't want housing," Pertel said.
Wednesday's meeting comes 10 days before the City unveils the results of a survey at a community meeting that will take place at the airport on Saturday May 17.
According to City officials, the online survey that closed April 28 had 4,984 responses. Of those, 3,451 respondents provided their zip codes, of which 2,613 were from Santa Monica.
UNITE HERE Local 11 union members and members of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE) raised concerns about the City’s public engagement process during the meeting.
The survey, the union said in a statement issued before the meeting, "was not designed to be mobile-friendly, instead effectively requiring use of a computer.
"Spanish-language access was poorly executed. And participants were asked to watch a 44-minute video and complete a long, technical survey."
Both the hotel workers union and SMRR also noted that questions about including housing on the site mentioned that affordable housing would not generate revenues.
"It framed all as a revenue generator," Zane said. Affordable housing advocates, he added, "are trying to meet social objectives, not revenue generating objectives."
Gruber, a longtime member of SMRR and staunch housing advocate, said the community process was the most successful he's seen in the 35 years he's been engaged in civic issues.
"People who don't like the results of the process typically attack the process itself," he said. "There's no basis for attacks from my friends on the pro-housing side."
