SOME LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS are wary that the state Department of Fish and Wildlife will not hold public scoping meetings after the comment period ends. After the notice of preparation was released in July, “an open house forum” was offered instead of a scoping meeting.
By Gary Walker
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife has extended the time for the public to engage with state officials on the environmental process for the Ballona Wetlands, but not to the satisfaction of some local environmentalists.
Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Jordan Traverso told The Argonaut Feb. 26 that her agency decided to extend the deadline for written comments an additional 15 days from Friday, March 1 until March 15.
“We did this in response to many public requests,” Traverso said.
Opponents of a proposed nature center in the region’s last wetlands in recent weeks began to enlist the power officeholders who represent the Playa del Rey area in order to force state officials to increase the time period for the public to give their views on the center as well as a long planned restoration of the ecological reserve.
The Ballona Land Trust, the Sierra Club and the Ballona Institute have appealed to Fish and Wildlife for 90 days for public comment on the wetlands renovation project, which the state agency will be spearheading in conjunction with the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
Fish and Wildlife, formerly the Department of Fish and Game, entered into an agreement with the Santa Monica-based Annenberg Foundation Jan. 28 that will allow for a $50-million facility to be constructed near Culver Boulevard in what is known as Area C, near the 90 freeway, in the wetlands.
“We hope this center will become a place where community members can come to learn how nature works, and how each of them is a part of it,” said Fish and Wildlife Director Charlton Bonham. “This effort is the kind of legacy project we need, with education programs to help instill a sense of stewardship in these urban communities that might otherwise not be fulfilled.”
Los Angeles Councilman Bill Rosendahl, whose district includes the wetlands, sent a letter to Bonham, asking for the additional time for interested parties to be able to respond to the proposed plan.
“The unexpected proposal by the Annenberg Foundation to build a 51,000 square foot interpretive center on the Ballona Ecological Preserve warrants an extension of the public comment period to a full 90 days. This will allow for thoughtful public input,” the councilman wrote. “I am a strong believer that robust public participation in the decision-making process is key to the success of a project. The health of our democracy relies on an open and transparent process that also provides ample comment time.”
A notice of preparation for the wetlands restoration project was issued in July, prior to announcement of the Annenberg Foundation’s proposed facility.
Fish and Wildlife released a revised notice of preparation Feb. 1, which included a 30 day- period for interested parties to submit observations and questions regarding the restoration to state officials.
The new notice includes additional information about “visitor-oriented facilities,” including the proposed nature center. It does not alter any information in the July notice but should be considered in addition to that document’s information, according to state officials.
The center, as proposed, would be an approximately 46,000-square foot building and include an auditorium, classrooms, facilities for an animal adoption and care program, exhibits on wildlife and domestic animals, veterinary facilities limited to care for program-related animals housed on site only, office space for administrative and educational staff, optional retail and concessions space and parking.
Marcia Hanscom, the co-founder of the Playa del Rey-based Ballona Institute, said an extension is necessary in order for the public to have an opportunity to examine carefully all of the project impacts to the ecologically sensitive wetlands. She also feels the federal government, which is involved in the Ballona restoration but not with the Annenberg project, should issue a revised environmental impact report.
“It’s a very different project now,” said Hanscom. “There are potential impacts due to putting pavement in the wetlands and potential cultural impacts because there could be Native American burial grounds on that site.”
The Gabrielino/Tongva tribe was prevalent in the area of the wetlands west and east of Lincoln Boulevard, and ancestral artifacts have been found in what is now Phase I of Playa Vista, which is also home to a recently created Gabrielino/Tongva burial ground.
State Sen. Ted Lieu (D-Marina del Rey) has joined Rosendahl in asking for more time for the public input. He recently met with Bonham to personally request an extension to 90 days.
“I believe that having transparency for a project that is this controversial is a good thing,” said the senator.
Friends of the Ballona Wetlands President David Kay could not be reached for comment.
Hanscom and other groups are wary that Fish and Wildlife might not hold pubic scoping hearings as well. After the July notice of preparation was released, several people interested in the restoration attended a function in Marina del Rey Aug. 16 expecting to be able to interact with state officials and submit their questions.
Instead, they were treated to “an open house forum” with illustrations of the planned restoration, but there were no representatives from the agency then known as Fish and Game.
The Annenberg Foundation anticipates beginning construction on the nature center in the summer of 2014, if the environmental documents are approved.
I need much more information before I can make an informed opinion about this interpretive center. I need to see a map of the proposed facility and a thorough explanation providing details about the design.
http://www.annenbergfoundation.org/node/50770
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/jan/27/local/la-me-ballona-wetlands-center-20130127
This is not enough. I need details about the proposal.
Hi Matt –
Leonard Aube, who is the Executive Director of the Annenberg Foundation, gave a 50+ slide public presentation to the Del Rey Neighborhood Council Land Use and Planning Committee last Wednesday, but he know refuses to share the presentation because he says it isn’t ready for public. That is the kind of double speak we are getting from Annenberg on this issue.
By all means, ask him for the presentation yourself (laube@annenberg.org) and see what reaction you get. If you do get the presentation, please share it with the rest of us as it is full of misleading assertions that we’d like to address slide by slide.
The presentation doesn’t even mention companion animals until slide 43. I’m sure that will change now given that people called them out and made clear that they understand that the Animal Center is in fact Wallis Annenberg’s sole interest in the project. The presentation also depicts a timeline that starts on the day that the partnership was announced and ends when construction begins in 2014, to inaccurately indicate that we are “early in the process.” In fact, planning with the state began in fall of 2011 and the public scoping comment period ends in less than a week. So we are actually very late in the process. To see Leonard Aube look the audience in the eye with a reassuring smile and make that blatantly false claim was actually quite chilling. Not what I expect from the organization behind FactCheck.org.
Different people will have different subjective interpretations of the facts. But we do need the facts to form informed opinions. Right now Annnenberg and DFW are doing their best to run out the clock on the public scoping period. Anyone who cares about this ecosystem, and ecology in general, will want this to be a more transparent process. The Annenberg Foundation must start leveling with the public about what they really want from this project and the quid pro quo nature of the agreement with DFW.
It is a marriage for money and those don’t last long.
Walter Lamb
Ballona Wetlands Land Trust
http://www.ballona.org/annenberg
The first lesson after building facilities for an interpretive center on the Ballona ecological reserve becomes a reality will be that there was not protection of habitat from the kind of development that had been threatening and surrounding it.
I think a question that the media and public should be asking with regard to a 90 day comment period is “If not, then why not?” The Calfornia Department of Fish and Game is a public agency. They need to at least explain why they want to cut short the comment period if they truly value public participation. This is the time when the public can actually influence the scope of the EIR to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks. To be meaningul and constructive, such comments require access to information and time to adequetaly analyze and discuss that information. CDFW should have scheduled meetings and also scheduled managed tours of the proposed construction site with a biologist so that interested members of the public could get a first hand account of the ecological potential of the site that will be developed.
Our concern is that CDFW has determined that a longer public comment period will jeopardize the project, which was already vetted and rejected by the people of Rancho Palos Verdes. That is not an appropriate way for a state agency to act, and we urge them to remember that they serve the public, not a private foundation, regardless of how much money is being put in front of them.
The media really needs to press CDFW to explain how their decision is in the best public interest. If we can’t even get that answer, let alone the extension itself, then it becomes pretty clear that the CDFW has put the interests of the Annenberg Foundation above the public interest on this matter.
Walter Lamb
Ballona Wetlands Land trust
It is obvious that the State is not listening. There was a surveyor working on the proposed site today and placing red stakes in the ground……