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Commission endorses draft framework for Santa Monica airport conversion; staff flags groundwater contamination work
Summary
City planning staff presented an 8‑district framework for converting the Santa Monica airport into a public park, previewed renderings, and the commission voted to recommend the framework to City Council while raising questions about environmental testing, groundwater contamination tied to Boeing-related plumes, and funding responsibilities.
Amber Rashine, principal design and planning manager for the City of Santa Monica, presented the Phase 3B "framework diagram" for the airport conversion project on April 20, describing a planning approach meant to guide future design and funding decisions without presupposing a final layout.
Rashine said the framework translates extensive community engagement (94 meetings and roughly 12,000 survey responses) into eight proposed districts—Immersive Nature, Active Sports, Arts & Culture, Urban Edge, The Stroll, Lawn, Meadow and The Heart—and a set of "big moves" and "bold connections," including a north–south bike/ped spine and park frontage roads to facilitate drop-off and event access. She said the framework is intended to be flexible, to better communicate where uses might go, and to strengthen grant and philanthropic applications by showing approximate locations and scale for proposed amenities.
Rashine previewed conceptual renderings and said staff plan to take the framework to City Council for comment on May 12. If council concurs, she said staff will develop a preferred‑scenario framework and begin more detailed phasing, cost estimating and environmental analysis. "We're in phase 3B of a five‑phase planning process," Rashine said, adding that the framework is meant to help the public understand options before staff produce detailed site plans.
Commissioners pressed staff on environmental due diligence. Multiple speakers referenced existing contamination investigations tied to historic industrial activity and the Boeing site; a commissioner summarized a 2023 Phase I assessment documenting soil and groundwater issues and said Boeing is conducting deeper groundwater drilling and soil‑vapor extraction in some areas. Rashine said the city has completed Phase I environmental work and that a Phase II report was imminent; she added that remediation responsibilities and timing are being tracked and that staff aim to ensure airport funds, not the general fund, cover remediation costs where appropriate.
Commissioners also asked about timing for project descriptions needed for environmental review; Rashine said the framework will enable staff to craft a project description for environmental analysis once the council provides direction on the preferred scenario. Commissioners discussed stormwater capture and infiltration as a priority that will hinge on contamination constraints and remediation timing.
After discussion, the commission moved a motion to recommend that City Council support the draft framework diagram and orientation of districts. The chair recorded the commission’s vote as in favor; commissioners committed to send a recommendation and to return comments in advance of the Council review.
Next steps listed by staff included closing the public survey (open until the Sunday after the meeting), posting presentation materials and renderings to the project website, and seeking Council direction on May 12 to move the framework toward a preferred‑scenario plan and then environmental review.
