Yesterday's Which Way LA tackled the heart wrenching story of Playa Vista- the billion dollar mega development on the Westside that's had its Phase II plans unceremoniously kicked in the nuts by an appeals court, who last Friday ruled that the project's environmental impact review was deficient. The Phase II portion of the project was supposed to put up 2,600 new housing units, retail and office space on the Ballona Wetlands. Steve Sugerman of PV stated that they will fix the issues identified by the court and move on, but Ballona Land Trust Executive Director Tom Francis claimed that the court had decided the City of LA broke the law in approving PV - Phase II, and stripped away the projects entitlements requiring it to start over.
The ever-decisive Bill Rosendahl (CD11) chimed in, saying he was "reflecting on the ruling" and "talking to people." Way to ride the fence Councilman! Francis later broke into soliloquy, declaring that the "City has been controlled by big developers for far too long" and that he trusted that Councilman Rosendahl and Mayor Villaraigosa have a vision of Los Angeles beyond developer driven land use planning. Idealism is charming. The next step for this brouhaha may be the State Supreme Court.
· Court Puts the Breaks on Phase Two of Playa Vista [Which Way LA]
· Playa Vista's final phase is put on hold [LA Times]