Activists prevail in campaign to cap Ballona storm drains
By Gary Walker
Wetlands can play a vital role in absorbing and filtering storm water runoff, but for the past 13 years a network of concrete drains has been preempting nature’s handiwork in the Ballona Wetlands.
Now those drains will be capped, following the settlement of a lawsuit that pitted the nonprofit Grassroots Coalition against Playa Vista founding developers Playa Capital LLC and official wetlands stewards the California Department of Fish & Wildlife.
The settlement comes four years after the California Coastal Commission launched an investigation of the unpermitted drainage system, which has been in operation since the state purchased the wetlands to establish an ecological reserve.
The Grassroots Coalition, among the most tenacious and litigious opponents of the initial development of Playa Vista, claims the drains have been drying out the wetlands in violation of the California Coastal Act. The group is seeking hydrology studies to explore whether the drains harmed Ballona’s fragile ecosystem.
“This [victory] was totally expected. What was not expected was that Fish and Wildlife would drag their feet on this for so long,” Grassroots Coalition President Patricia McPherson said. “This should be a real red flag warning for everyone who cares about Ballona.”
Fish and Wildlife officials have since taken action to comply with the settlement.
“We agreed to submit an application to the Coastal Commission to cap the drains. We’ve done that, and now it’s with the Coastal Commission,” Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Jordan Traverso said.
Todd Cardiff, attorney for the Grassroots Coalition, said the group is pushing to have the drains capped at the base or removed.
Playa Capital must pay $20,000 into the state Coastal Conservancy’s remediation fund to fulfill terms of the settlement. The company did not return calls for comment, but in 2013 Playa Capital Vice President of Planning and Entitlements Marc Huffman said officials with the city of Los Angeles had ordered Playa Capital to build the drainage system all those years ago.
“These drains are intended to protect the adjacent roads from flooding in the event of a massive storm, [flooding] which has not occurred since the drains were installed,” Huffman said.
All development in the area, including city-ordered infrastructure, must be approved by the California Coastal Commission — which the drains were not.
In a 2014 letter to Playa Capital, California Coastal Commission enforcement analyst Andrew Willis wrote that “the presence of the subject drains is clearly detrimental to the natural habitat and the hydraulic functioning of the wetland.”
The settlement comes in advance of the state’s promised mid-year publication of a long-delayed environmental study needed to begin restoration work in the wetlands.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife has a mission to protect the environment, yet that Agency has allowed the wetlands to drain for years, even after the Coastal Commission said to stop.
That same agency is planning to bulldoze the freshwater wetlands into a new saltwater habitat that has not existed for over 4,000 years. Stealth Marketing has labeled this a “restoration”, when in fact it is the creation of something new and different contrary to a real restoration.
Keep an open mind when the DFW starts its hard sell of this project. It will wipe out freshwater wetlands at taxpayer expense for no valid reason.
Worse yet, it will allow ocean waters closer to homes and infrastructure. Given the rate of sea level rise, we should be trying to keep the sea away rather than inviting it into our homes.
John Davis
This is one of many examples in which stakeholder groups have to expend considerable time and money bring these issues to the forefront because the agencies and entities in charge of the wetlands are either lack the resources or the will to protect the public interest from private special interests. A more recent incident in which Playa Vista dumped construction fill on sensitive riparian habitat to save money on disposal costs remains unresolved. And the Fish and Game Commission will decide this month whether to continue to allow commercial parking in the wetlands for employees of Fisherman’s Village, a shopping area across the street from the wetlands. We need more members of the public to speak up and advocate for this important public resource.