Hayden Criticizes Vast Playa Vista Project : Environment: State senator warns of increased traffic, air pollution, sewage buildup and storm-drain runoff.

PLAYA DEL REY —  The vast Playa Vista project, now entering a critical period during which its prospects for city approval are likely to be decided, is drawing fire from a new and powerful quarter.

State Sen. Tom Hayden, just days after being sworn in as a member of the Legislature’s upper house, became the first elected official to sharply criticize the multibillion-dollar development planned for the open land between Marina del Rey and the Westchester Bluffs.

With the deadline for comments on Playa Vista’s environmental impact report extended to the end of the year, Hayden said last that week he is drafting a critique that reflects his concerns about building one of the biggest developments in Los Angeles history.

“Playa Vista massively intensifies urban density, reduces open space and biodiversity, increases the level of traffic and adds to air pollution, sewage buildup and storm-drain runoff in an area that is already ‘developed’ beyond any reasonable definition of carrying capacity or healthy human habitat,” he said.

The Santa Monica Democrat gave Playa Vista’s developer, Maguire Thomas Partners, credit for negotiating seriously with the surrounding community and making efforts to address such issues as preservation of the Ballona Wetlands, sewage and traffic problems.

But after an initial reading of the environmental impact report, Hayden concluded: “The net cumulative impact of Playa Vista on air pollution, traffic and urban congestion clearly appears to be a negative one. The mitigations proposed, even if carried out, might only lessen but never cure the impact on the quality of life in the region.”

Although the project lies outside the boundaries of his new Senate district, Hayden said Playa Vista is one of the most important development projects in many years for Westside residents.

In all, the project would provide enough housing for 28,625 residents and enough office and retail space for a work place for nearly 20,000 people.

To handle the traffic, Hayden said, streets would have to be widened into thoroughfares and gridlock could result. He complained that the intensity and nature of the development is inappropriate, particularly when the riot-ravaged inner city has been neglected.

Maguire Thomas’ senior partner, Nelson Rising, defended Playa Vista. He said the development is designed to be environmentally sensitive, “more than any project I’m aware of in the history of this basin.”

He noted that plans call for construction of advanced recycling and waste-water reclamation facilities and restoration of the last major wetland in Los Angeles County.

Rising said Playa Vista, which mixes residential, office, hotels, shops, restaurants and a new marina, is also intended to break Southern California’s traditional dependence on the automobile by encouraging walking and use of mass transit.

He denied that the project’s first phase will have an adverse impact on traffic once an unprecedented program of street improvements, mass transit and automated traffic signals is in place.

Rising also noted that rents at about 15% of the residential units will be set at levels affordable to people with low and moderate incomes.

He extended an invitation to Hayden to discuss the project and the steps Maguire Thomas is taking to minimize its impacts. “I welcome the opportunity for a dialogue,” he said. “We share his concerns about the environmental impacts.”

Hayden’s criticism, however, is by far the strongest from any elected official and it comes at a crucial time in the project’s history.

After four years of planning, Maguire Thomas is on the verge of seeking approval early next year from the City of Los Angeles to begin construction of the first phase of the development.

The first stage--amounting to about a quarter of the entire development--consists of 3,246 residential units, 1.25 million square feet of office space, 35,000 square feet of retail space and 300 hotel rooms.

In all, plans call for Playa Vista to contain 13,085 apartments, townhouses and condominiums, 5 million square feet of office space, 595,000 square feet of retail space, 1,050 hotel rooms and a new marina with docks for up to 840 boats.

But before anything can be built, the detailed environmental impact report that outlines the effects of building the first phase must be certified as adequate under the California Environmental Quality Act. A separate environmental impact report details the effects of building the entire project.

The two documents together, reflecting the sheer size of the project, are more than 2,000 pages long, stand eight inches thick, and weigh 18 pounds.

After receiving requests for more time to review the reports, city planners on Friday extended the deadline for public comment on the Phase I report from Dec. 16 to Dec. 31. It was the second time the deadline has been pushed back since the report was released in early October.

In both cases, the extensions were granted after requests from Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, whose district includes most of the Playa Vista property, and other community representatives.

Aside from providing a gauge of public sentiment about the project, the public comment has a legal significance: Critics of the project must make their objections known before the deadline to maintain their right to challenge the first phase of the project in court at a later date.

An important voice not yet heard from is Galanter’s. She has been tight-lipped about her response to the project since the voluminous environmental impact report was released. She declined to be interviewed last week.

“I don’t think we’re ready with an answer,” said James Bickhart, a top deputy to the councilwoman. In the past, he said, Galanter’s approach to Playa Vista has been, “If they can’t mitigate it, they can’t build it.”

Galanter has been involved in behind-the-scenes talks with Maguire Thomas since before the Los Angeles-based developer took over the project in February, 1989.

Several other public officials have yet to be heard from as well.

Newly elected Assemblywoman Debra L. Bowen (D-Los Angeles), whose district includes the Playa Vista site, said she plans to submit comments after studying the environmental documents. “I’m certainly going to have some things to say about the project,” she said.

Bowen, a Venice attorney who has represented community groups in environmental lawsuits, said Playa Vista will have “a major impact on the whole character of the area.”

While monitoring the project, state Sen. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles) does not plan to comment on the environmental impact report although Playa Vista lies within her district. “Basically, as a state senator, we feel this is a local matter,” said Ann Post, a field deputy to Watson.

The project is certain to also draw extensive comments from local environmental groups, including the Friends of Ballona Wetlands, which has been fighting for years to save and restore the degraded wetlands west of Lincoln Boulevard.

The Friends of Ballona Wetlands filed suit in 1984 and stopped Summa Corp. from proceeding with plans for building a densely-packed, high-rise version of Playa Vista. Summa eventually relinquished its lead role in the project to Maguire Thomas.

In an agreement with Maguire Thomas to settle the protracted litigation, the Friends agreed to confine their critique of the redesigned Playa Vista project to its impact on the wetlands.

“We have some questions and areas that we believe need serious attention,” said Josephine Powe, the group’s attorney.

Those concerns include questions about the handling of storm water that runs off developed areas of the project into a freshwater wetland west of Lincoln Boulevard.

Representatives of the environmental group Heal the Bay are also drafting comments that will raise questions about the project’s waste-water treatment facilities, plans for removing oil and grease, and treating storm-water runoff. “The last thing we want is highly polluted water to get into that wetland,” staff scientist Mark Gold said.

In addition, the local chapter of the Sierra Club is expected to offer comments critical of Playa Vista’s impacts on traffic, air and water quality.