By Jorge Casuso

December 13, 2023 -- The City Council next week is set to embark on one of the largest -- and most costly -- outreach efforts in Santa Monica history as it begins plotting the airport's future.

On Tuesday, the Council is expected to give the go-ahead to negotiate a $2.1 million contract with consultant Sasaki Associates, Inc. and create an $221,797-a-year staff position, including benefits, to help lead the outreach.

The intensive 21-month process will include more than 60 community meetings, "listening sessions," pop-up events and focus group sessions, including five presentations to the Council at each "outreach milestone," according to City staff.

"This robust, creative, in-depth, outreach process designed to gain as wide a variety of voices as possible from our community would be one of the largest and most inclusive to date," staff wrote in a report to the Council.

The 227-acre site -- which is one of the largest open swaths of land in urban Los Angeles -- is not a blank slate. It is currently home to 166 businesses and is subject to voter-imposed restrictions.

Measure LC, which was approved by 60 percent of Santa Monica voters in 2014, allows the Council to approve the development of parks, public open spaces and public recreational facilities, but prohibits new development without voter approval.

"This process would engage the community to define what the appropriate balance of open space, active and passive recreation, and other community needs should be after the Airport closes" on January 1, 2029, staff wrote.

"Any concept brought forth would need to be analyzed for economic feasibility, community support, and Council authorization and should serve Santa Monicans now and in the future."

Sasaki was chosen to lead the outreach process after the Council in October rejected a plan by Healthy Democracy to have a randomly selected panel of 40 "everyday people" make the recommendations ("Council Shoots Down Lottery Plan for Airport Site," October 11, 2023).

Sasaki, staff wrote, "is a well-known and respected landscape, planning, and architecture firm with over 350 professionals world-wide that focus on visionary pragmatism on the projects with which they work.

"The firm has worked on more than 10 airport conversion projects including the Ellinikon project in Greece that turned 600 acres of airport land into a 1,000-year park project."

The transformation of the airport after it closes under a 2017 agreement with the FAA "is likely to be the most transformative urban planning event of the century for the City,” Santa Monica officials have said ("Airport Plan Takes Off," January 25, 2023).

"Determining how to repurpose this land in a way that best serves Santa Monica, now and for generations, is a complex undertaking, and, as with many land-use planning projects, is a significant point of interest for the community," City officials said on Wednesday.

"With input from the community, city boards and commissions, and the City Council, Sasaki would develop multiple possible scenarios for the future of the airport," staff said.