Airport Land May Soon Be Developed

Terry Marcellus and his neighbors call it a no man’s land: 240 vacant acres where a thriving neighborhood was destroyed by the jet age.

On a site where single-family homes on oversized lots once stood, streets lead nowhere and lampposts have been stripped of their globes. A small radar facility and occasional interlopers--teen-agers looking for a place to party, people watching planes take off and land--are the sole signs of life.

“To me it is flat-out depressing,” said Marcellus, a 38-year-old attorney who lives near the empty property, immediately north of Los Angeles International Airport.

“The land out there is just a constant reminder that a good part of Westchester was gobbled up and taken away.”

It has been more than a decade since the Los Angeles Department of Airports finished acquiring the 2,834 tract homes that dotted the property. The acquisition began after the airport’s two north runways were completed in 1970 and some residents in the area began complaining about jet noise. The city allowed the airport to condemn all homes within 700 feet of the northernmost runway--the area deemed to be adversely affected.

In all, about 7,000 people were forced to find new places to live. Some went willingly; others fought hard to stay, but in vain.

Stung by the controversies and bad blood that the condemnations created, the department has moved gingerly to develop the land, even though environmental and zoning approvals to build a commercial development on the property were granted more than four years ago.

Now, however, it appears that a low-density development could be imminent. Last week, airport officials held what is expected to be the last public workshop to discuss building guidelines for the property. Those guidelines are expected to be sent to airport commissioners this spring for approval, and developers could be asked to submit construction proposals by this summer, LAX officials said.

Some who either lived on the property or still reside near it would prefer that nothing be built on the land. Still angry over the airport’s acquisition, they say that if the land is unsuitable for homes, nothing else should be built there. Others say they think the land should be turned into a park.

But Marcellus, as well as numerous Westchester business owners, are enthusiastic about the prospect of the land finally being developed with office buildings, hotels, restaurants and light industrial buildings. Development, they contend, should pump new life into the community’s downtown business area, which was hit hard when the homes were purchased and people drifted away.

“The business district has never fully recovered” from the condemnations, said Howard Drollinger, a longtime Westchester developer who owns land in the downtown area.

“This project is going to pull this whole area up by its bootstraps,” predicted Jerry Epstein, the airport commissioner working most closely on the project. “I think the land values all around that (development) are going to skyrocket.”

Although it may appear to have taken a long time to draw up a development scheme for the property, airport officials said developers initially showed little interest in the land. Additionally, the property was subjected to protracted hearings by city planners, they said.

Bill Schoenfeld, deputy executive director of the Department of Airports, said the department, which paid between $300,000 and $400,000 an acre for the land, is not wedded to a particular type of development. He said the agency has spent a great deal of effort attempting to build “positive credibility” with the community and its political leaders.

“We wanted to be sure as we moved ahead that we had the community, as well as the people representing those people, on our side,” Schoenfeld said.

Some Opposed

A spokeswoman for Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who represents the area, said the current low-density type of development proposed for the property has sparked no organized opposition.

But some former residents don’t like the idea of a development where their homes once stood.

“They promised us that that land would not be used for anything but airfield purposes,” said Dick Kerker, a 72-year-old retired aerospace engineer whose home was condemned against his wishes. He now lives about a mile north of the site. “ . . . The whole area is being ruined,” he said.

Al Koster, who lives across the street from the property, said he unsuccessfully attempted to persuade the department to purchase his home, but it did not fall within the area calculated to be severely affected by jet noise. He said he is worried that any development on the property could pose traffic problems.

“A commercial development may increase the value of our property, but on the other hand, we are going to have horrible traffic around here,” the 77-year-old Koster said.

Environmental plans for the project calculate that development could generate 60,000 vehicle trips a day into the immediate area. To handle some of the traffic, the airport--or the developers--will be required to build a four-lane highway that will extend the entire length of the project from Sepulveda Eastway to Pershing Drive. The highway is expected to cost at least $25 million.

Building Regulations

Because the land is adjacent to LAX, building heights are restricted by the Federal Aviation Administration. On some parcels, only a one-story building can be constructed; on others, structures can be as high as 10 stories.

Department officials said that average density will be 0.43 square feet of floor space per square foot of land. Under Proposition U, the slow-growth measure passed by Los Angeles voters in 1986, floor space up to 1 1/2 times the area of the land are permitted--more than three times the density the airport is planning.

What eventually is built on the land will depend on developer interest. Development guidelines call for much of the new construction to be devoted to be low-rise research and development buildings.

They also call for the construction of hotel rooms, office buildings and restaurants. The property has been divided into 12 parcels, and plans call for the four smallest ones--amounting to about eight acres--to be left vacant.

The department has excluded any large retail developments because they might hurt the already ailing downtown Westchester businesses.

“You can sort of go down the list,” said Marcellus, who grew up in Westchester. “Before, we had two movie houses on Sepulveda, now there are none. There was something like five grocery stores. Now there is one.”

Wait-and-See Attitude

Local business leaders said the uncertainty about the vacant land has prompted nearby property owners to take a wait-and-see attitude toward their own land. Developer Drollinger, who said his mother built the first grocery store in Westchester in 1943, said he put off redeveloping some property until he had a better sense of what the airport was planning.

Skip Petersen, owner of the Westchester Faire Antique Mall, said that although it was “pretty tough” making a go of it 10 years ago, business in the downtown area has improved. Several older buildings have been given face lifts, his own business is thriving, and the airport project can only help, he said.

“I think that development would give us the shot in the arm we need to put us over the top,” Petersen said.

Rosemarie Ruddins, whose home of 13 years was condemned against her wishes, said she finds it ironic that it is all right to build a hotel on land where she was not allowed to live.

“I am still very bitter about it,” she said. “It was a land grab. It was a sham.”