College Unveils Plan for Airport Park

By Gene Williams
Staff Writer

March 22 -- The City’s long-awaited Airport Park may get built without municipal funds under a proposal put forward by Santa Monica College as part of a long-range plan for its Airport Campus, college officials announced Tuesday.

Under the proposal, the college would use bond money from Measures S and U -- which were passed by Santa Monica-Malibu voters in March 2002 and November 2004 respectively -- to build the 8.3-acre park in exchange for the right to put its shuttle parking underneath, a proposal the college thinks could be a win-win situation.

College officials said that the plan would free up City funds for other projects -- such as the possible expansion of Memorial Park -- while the college would benefit by not having to buy land to replace its shuttle service parking, which is currently on the site of the proposed park.

"This proposal has several benefits, including the ability to enlarge the available park space sufficiently to build the planned soccer fields to standard size for high school tournament play and adult use," College President Tom Donner said in a statement Tuesday.

"This would free City funds for other uses and would free college funds for other field space improvement projects, probably as joint projects with the city,” Donner said.

The plan could free up as much as $20 million for the college, which would not have to purchase additional land for its shuttle site, said Don Girard, executive assistant to the president.

“It frees up money you wouldn’t otherwise be able to free up,” Girard said.

College officials note that its shuttle service to and from the main campus on Pico has been operating on the site of the planned park since 1988, adding that maintaining the program -- which serves 1,700 students everyday -- helps ease traffic congestion at its main campus.

Under the plan, the college would build a 650-space subterranean garage, which would accommodate 581 more vehicles than the 119-space surface lot planned by the City, Girard said.

Girard acknowledged that the project would likely push back the City’s schedule for completing the park, which soccer moms and other residents have been waiting for for over a decade. But in the long term, it will be in the best interest for the City and the college, Girard said.

The proposal comes one and a half years after the City Council approved the design and environmental impact report for the park, which will include two lighted sports fields, a picnic area, a children’s playground, an off-leash dog area, public restrooms and a paved path.

The proposed park had been so long in the planning, council members feared they'd never live to use it. Before the unanimous vote was cast in October 2003, former Council member Michael Feintsein noted that it had taken 77 years for the park Santa Monica citizens bought land for in 1926 to materialize.

The new park is expected to alleviate a huge demand for outdoor recreational spaces, City officials said. Santa Monica's fields are used three times as much as the fields in cities across the nation, according to City staff.

The college has been leasing the site of the planned park from the City for nearly two decades, Girard said, adding that the maintaining the shuttle service is important to the college’s long-term plan.

The shuttle lot is a key component of the college’s plans to develop its airport campus by adding a 10.4-acre site at 3171 South Bundy Drive that the college purchased from BAE Systems in December 2001 for $30 million.

A number of site improvements, including the removal of a 100,000-square-foot building, a new sound wall and landscaping, were completed in 2004 following a series of meetings with nearby neighbors to develop consensus.

An existing 64,000-square-foot building is currently being renovated to house programs to be offered this summer, including nursing, teacher training and professional development.

The new campus will provide "an opportunity to broaden career programs offered by the college, both for the beginning worker and for the worker looking to improve skills or change careers," Donner said. “It is also an opportunity to provide needed community improvements."

Classes will begin at the new site this summer, Girard said.

Two workshops are scheduled for residents to weigh in with their views on the college’s long range plans for its Airport Campus: Tuesday, March 29, 7 p.m., Visioning Workshop with Santa Monica focus, and Wednesday, March 30, 7 p.m. Visioning Workshop with Mar Vista focus. Both meetings will cover the same material.

The meetings will be at the Barker Hangar, 3021 Airport Avenue, at the Santa Monica Airport and should last about two hours.