Report Recommends Turning Airport Parcel Into Industrial Park

A consultant delivered to Los Angeles Airport commissioners Wednesday a plan recommending construction of a massive office and industrial complex at the soon-to-be vacated Air National Guard base at Van Nuys Airport, amid growing opposition to the proposal from the airport’s neighbors.

The plan, which also would set aside 10 of the complex’s 94 acres for a park and aviation museum, “is a careful balance” between the airport’s need for money and its desire to please the neighboring community, consultant Sylvia Salienus said.

Salienus said the project, with more than 1 million square feet of office and industrial space, would earn the Department of Airports $4.7 million a year in lease income. Members of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners declined to express an opinion on the proposal and postponed discussion until a meeting next month in Van Nuys.

However, Councilman Hal Bernson predicted before the meeting that the council is “not going to support 1 million square feet of offices across the street from those homes.”

Bernson’s attitude is crucial to the project’s future because his district borders the airport to the west, and he is chairman of the council’s Planning and Land Use Committee.

The proposal also took a drubbing Tuesday from the Van Nuys Airport Citizens Advisory Council, which voted to oppose the plan and call for the dismissal of the consultant.

P&D; Technologies is “thinking like land developers. They’re trying to make money, period,” said Lee Kanon Alpert, chairman of the advisory committee, whose members are appointed by the mayor, the City Council and the Board of Airport Commissioners.

The 94-acre site is in the airport’s northwest corner, south of Roscoe Boulevard along the east side of Balboa Boulevard. Some of the land has been vacant for years, but two-thirds of it became available for development earlier this year as the Air National Guard began moving to Point Mugu, a move expected to be completed April 30.

The consultants, asked by the Board of Airport Commissioners to examine possible uses for the land, looked at eight alternatives that included industrial, research, office, aviation, park and museum uses.

Each alternative included an aviation museum and park, ranging in size from three acres to 33.5 acres.

The Citizens Advisory Council proposed its own plan, which dedicated 17.5 acres to the museum and park.

The advisory council’s plan also envisions using 16 acres of the site to relocate the Flyaway terminal from Woodley Avenue and Saticoy Street. Land now used for the terminal, which runs 51 bus trips a day to and from Los Angeles International Airport, could be converted to commercial or industrial use, council members said.

But the consultants concluded that it would be too costly to move the Flyaway operation to the west side of the airport, and that the existing terminal site would not be as attractive to commercial and industrial tenants.

If the airport commission endorses P&D;’s recommendations, the Orange-based planning firm will prepare detailed traffic studies and environmental impact reports.

The plan finally approved by the airport board must then be approved by the Los Angeles City Council and the Federal Aviation Administration.