In only the second full City Council meeting of 2025, the slow-simmering subject of the future of Santa Monica Airport once again drew massive amounts of attention.
The Council was not voting on a definitive vision for the space on Tuesday but was instead asked to approve five guiding principles for transforming the Santa Monica Airport. The principles were developed out of an ongoing public input process with the year’s long push to convert the space into a 200-acre "Great Park" at the forefront of discussion and a new growing voice for housing emerging during the debates.
The principles, developed through nine months of community engagement, focus on environmental sustainability, community connection, economic self-sufficiency, versatility of use, and historical preservation. The city has partnered with Sasaki Associates, Inc., a firm experienced in airport conversions, to lead the planning process.
The city plans to identify a preferred development scenario by December 2025, allowing time for environmental review before the airport's closure on December 31, 2028, as mandated by a 2017 federal consent decree.
The subject continues to inflame passions among residents. After members of council returned from closed session, Mayor Lana Negrete stated that over a thousand emails had been received and 141 members of the public had registered to address the dias. Almost all of these were speaking in support of the pro-park movement, advocating that when the airport is scheduled to cease operations, the 192-acre site be turned into a recreational site of some description. Some even bought their infant children along to hear their opinions.
As a result of the settlement between the Federal Aviation Administration and the City (known as the “2017 Consent Decree”) the City has a legal responsibility to continue operation of the Santa Monica Airport until December 31, 2028. After that, the City is released from any obligation to the federal government to operate the Airport. Advocates for housing are eyeing the site as an opportunity that could help the City meet the state-mandated housing quota, especially for affordable housing.
It was the aim of this study session that councilmembers should, offer any feedback on the draft Guiding Principles, authorize City staff to begin exploring the feasibility of three alternative scenario concepts for Phase 3, authorize City staff to explore the feasibility of community preferred land uses including one scenario that is consistent with Measure LC without a vote and finally to authorize City staff to explore the feasibility of traditional and innovative financing structures and explore alternative organizational structures and/or partnerships to construct, operate, maintain, program and manage the site.
Specifics of the three scenarios will be developed and presented to council following the adoption of the guiding principles.
Amber Richane, Principal Design & Planning Manager for the City of Santa Monica, showed an impressive amount of statistics in regards to feedback based on the park-related community outreach events that have been held over the last nine months or so.
Councilmember Jesse Zwick questioned the validity of conclusions drawn from the public process.
“Did you guys conduct a random sampling of residents in Santa Monica?” he asked, adding, “The quantitative data we have, that's just percentages of people who self-selected, who had a deep enough interest in the subject to want to go forward and voluntarily participate in this process. So we can't really draw any conclusion from what the average Santa Monica thinks about any of this.”
“We did not do polling and with [planning and landscape firm] Sasaki, the way that we've gone about it is in a community engagement process, it is who shows up … it is completely up to the community showing up and taking their time to show up in person or do the online activities,” Richane said.
Voters previously passed Measure LC that prohibits new development on Airport land, except for parks, public open spaces and public recreational facilities, until the voters approve limits on the uses and development that may occur on the land.
In response to a question from Councilwoman Caroline Torosis regarding options for the land that potentially trigger Measure LC (requiring voter approval) Assistant City Attorney Susan Cola attempted to summarize, “This all depends on how the land is parsed out, whether there's financing involved [or] If the Surplus Lands Act is involved, because we decide we need to break the land up and provide leases.” she said, adding, “So it's really hard to speculate at this point. And I think what they're asking for is the ability to explore all of that and come back with something a little more defined.”
Housing was raised a number of times through the course of the discussion by numerous members of council including Zwick who said it should be an option and Councilwoman Natalya Zernitskaya who agreed, saying, “I think housing should be considered for at least one of the other scenarios.”
Councilman Barry Snell said the cost of any future options needs to be studied.
“I don't want to put the cart before the horse,” he said. “I think that when we're looking at these different scenarios, I think it's real important that the financial aspects of making this happen should be front and center.”
Costs for any project at the Airport will include ground contamination analysis and removal of any and all toxins left behind from decades of industrial manufacturing on the site when the Douglas Aircraft Company was at full production.
The draft Guiding Principles presented to council are:
Start with Nature – The project design should consider the impact of any future intervention on the natural environment, and the Airport land’s ability to regenerate species and build community resiliency against climate change.
Inspire Wonder – The project should connect individuals in powerful and far-reaching ways uniting people of all backgrounds and ages in meaning, happiness, and heightened energy.
Balance Economics – The project should achieve economic equilibrium by balancing revenue with construction, operations, maintenance, and programming costs.
Amplify Versatility – The project should be vibrant in the ‘every day’ and the ‘big day, working for the Santa Monica community for large events and unprogrammed day-to-day activities with active and passive amenities.
Celebrate Place – The future project should embrace the layers of the site’s history, and share the stories of the place and region, from pre-colonial to the history of aviation on the site.
Each set of guiding principles was unanimously approved, albeit with one friendly amendment from Zwick, where the first Guiding Principle would be amended to read “The project designs should consider the impact of any future intervention on the natural environment and its consequential life cycle, greenhouse gas reduction potential, as well as the airport land’s ability to regenerate species and build community resilience against climate change.”
scott.snowden@smdp.com
