Draft Designs of the Project Were Presented; Public Comment Taken

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

It was standing room only in the small gym at Palisades Recreation Center as community members and stakeholders attended a meeting Tuesday evening, October 7, to hear about and provide feedback on draft designs for the rebuild of the rec center.

The 90-minute meeting included representatives from the city of Los Angeles—including the Department of Recreation and Parks—Pacific Palisades Recreation Center Park Advisory Board, and philanthropic partners Steadfast LA and LA Strong Sports Foundation, formed by JJ and Chelsea Redick, Charles and Jenna Jackson, and Kylee Kilgore.

The rebuilding of Palisades Recreation Center, which had buildings and areas destroyed (including the large gym, tennis center and maintenance building) or damaged in the Palisades fire, will be funded, redesigned and rebuilt by a public-private partnership announced on April 10.

“I want to get this thing built in about a year,” Steadfast LA Founder Rick Caruso said during the meeting. “This team at Gensler and SWA are so passionate about it, they’re so into it, and so the timeline that I’ve given them—and we may miss it by a little bit, but I hope not—we’re going to start in January and then reopen the next January.”

Gerdo Aquino, CEO of SWA Group, a landscape architecture, urban design and planning firm, detailed the draft site plan, including the “green canopy” of trees, which form “the foundation of this entire open space.”

“We’re talking about the Palisades,” Aquino said, “a very beautiful, green, topographical place, and the park should reflect that kind of character. This is your park. It should be familiar to you now and in the future.”

He spoke on the topography, with paths throughout the rec center, designed to “emphasize connectivity” to ensure users can “go from one destination to the next, seamlessly, throughout the entire park.”

The draft site plan includes the same main entrance as was there previously, but “better than it was,” with a “proper drop off at the front door” of the proposed new gym building and a second drop off space closer to Alma Real Drive to help alleviate “clusters of parking.”

Elements that will remain in their place but receive various upgrades include the tennis courts, baseball fields, maintenance yard, bocce courts and Veterans Gardens.

The west side of the park is where “much of the new program will be,” according to Aquino. Two basketball courts will remain, with a design for a “Pali hub” space between the courts and new gym as a “flexible lawn” with seating. North of that would be a “new children’s play area,” with “more functionality.”

The design also includes plans for a 100’ by 160’ “multi-purpose field” for U-10 games. In an area Aquino described as an “underutilized swale” would be a “multi-function” lawn for different events and activities.

Steve Chung spoke on behalf of Gensler, detailing the design for the new gym building space, which, as proposed, takes what was previously the small and large gyms and combines programming into one building.

The building includes a lobby, as well as two high school basketball courts with “appropriate safety clearances,” meaning “10-plus feet behind the baselines and enough space in the sidelines.” There are bleachers on either side of the two courts, designed to hold about 150 people, Chung said, and a scoring table.

There would also be indoor pickleball courts, multi-purpose rooms and a set of restrooms that open to both the indoor space and outdoor play areas, which Chung described as “easy to secure” and “easy to maintain.”

At the start of the meeting, Recreation and Parks General Manager Jimmy Kim said they want this to be “an open process” and “have accountability.” He said feedback given will “guide refinement.”

“This rec center is the community’s rec center, it is our rec center,” Palisadian JJ Redick, head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, said, later adding: “I just want to help. I want to be very clear on that. I want what you want.”

Speaking on behalf of the park advisory board was Chair Andrew Starrels.

“The plan for revitalizing the rec center that Steadfast and LA Strong Sports have proposed is truly visionary,” Starrels said. “It checks virtually all the boxes that users have expressed to the PAB as what the park needs, and it does so with a plan that is creative, expressive and reflects the talents of the truly world-class designers that Steadfast and LA Strong Sports have assembled in a philanthropic mission.”

The alternative, Starrels explained, would be doing a city-sponsored “like-for-like” replacement of what was lost at the rec center: “To me, and, I believe, to the community, what’s proposed tonight is a far more preferable alternative.”

The meeting included about one hour of public comment from constituents who spoke largely in favor of the park design as proposed, with ideas to add things like a skatepark, dog park and underground parking, and for the team to consider avoiding the use of artificial turf. Members of the Pacific Palisades Historical Society, Randy Young and Jeff Ridgway, spoke on the potential of saving the small gym, with Ridgway suggesting it be considered for use as a senior center.

“I look at this design—I want to say this really quick—there is no perfect,” Palisadian Bryan Whalen, a longtime coach at the rec center, said during public comment. “Better done than perfect, because perfect is in the eye of the beholder and there are 1,000 perfects out there. What I see up here, it’s great. It’s evolutionary. It keeps what’s so special about this place.”

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

The City of Los Angeles Board of Building and Safety Commissioners hosted a special hearing on Wednesday, October 8, ultimately declaring that eight properties, including multifamily units and a mobile home park, that had not yet been cleared of Palisades fire-related debris to be public nuisances.

Following the fire, private property owners in Pacific Palisades could opt in to a government-run debris removal program, which was led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and completed on August 26, or opt out and handle the removal through private contractors. The deadline to opt in or out of the program was April 15.

Commercial property owners were required to handle debris removal privately, with the option to ask FEMA for a special “case by case” basis inclusion in the government-run debris removal program.

According to a presentation during the hearing, Los Angeles Department of Building & Safety was given a list by LA County with sites that were not opted in to the government-run debris removal program and had not obtained the necessary fire debris removal permit from the county to complete work privately.

LADBS said it mailed notices to non-compliant property owners on August 28, and staff visited the sites and posted notices on September 2. September 12 marked the compliance deadline to obtain permits, according to the presentation, with October 2 the compliance deadline for completing debris removal work.

Commissioners were tasked with answering two questions during the hearing: “Does the board find that the presented evidence proves the site to be a public nuisance? Should any additional time be given to any of the owners to comply with the Department Order?”

Five properties addressed during the hearing did not have an owner or representative present or public comment related to it: 15314 and 15300 West Antioch Street (Owned by Security Pacific Natl Bank TR – Lee, Frank Decd Est of Et Al), 556 North Via De La Paz (Owned by SP Palisades LLC), 16815 West Bollinger Drive (Owned by Robert A Assil) and 16525 West Sunset Boulevard (Owned by Sunset View Apartments Family Partnership). All were declared a public nuisance by the board, with no additional time given.

Assil confirmed to the Palisadian-Post on October 21 that debris removal was underway the week prior and “should be done by now.”

Jerome Eisenberg, owner of the apartment building at 16525 West Sunset Boulevard for 30 years, said to the Post that he found out two days before the deadline that FEMA would not be clearing the debris, as the property was reclassified as commercial and not residential.

“I will do the work, it’s not a problem,” Eisenberg said, adding he anticipated it to be cleared in about 90 days. He said he was unaware of the hearing, as the paperwork had been sent to a previous address on file.

Three additional properties—1601 San Onofre Drive, 16321 West Pacific Coast Highway and 17311 West Castellammare Drive—were discussed and commented on during the hearing.

Jon Mansfield spoke on the property at 1601 North San Onofre Drive, owned by South Dakota Trust CO LLC TR Avocado Trust, stating it was an “unusual home” and needed additional time. The 15,841-square-foot home, featured in the HBO show “Succession,” was purchased for $83 million in 2021—marking the largest sale on record in the Palisades.

Mansfield explained that the property owner had originally opted in for the government-run debris removal program before opting out when he said he received incorrect information from a neighbor that he would be unable to work with USACE during the process, potentially destroying “millions” more on the property. When he learned he would be able to coordinate with USACE during debris removal, Mansfield said it was too late for him to opt back in.

He said the home was insured by the California FAIR plan and a lender is currently holding onto $3 million. He estimated that, from the time of the hearing, debris removal, estimated to cost between $500,000 and $600,000, could be completed in four to six weeks.

Following a public comment from a neighbor citing the property remained “toxic,” the board voted to declare the property a public nuisance, with no additional time given.

The next item heard was 16321 West Pacific Coast Highway, known as Palisades Bowl and owned by Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile States Del LLC. Representing one of the owners was attorney Danielle Mayer, who said they “disagree with the characterization” that the property is a public nuisance, as it is fenced off. She requested additional time to clear debris: “It is being dealt with, but we need more time.”

Several residents of Palisades Bowl, including Jon Brown, spoke during the hearing.

“I appreciate your empathy,” Brown said to commissioners. “We are still grieving.”

The board then declared the property a public nuisance, with no additional time given.

The final property of the hearing was 17311 Castellammare Drive, owned by Jerome J Nash TR J Nash Trust. Nash was present to speak on the property, saying he has been working on clearing debris at the 14-unit apartment building, of which only the third floor was damaged in the fire.

He said it was “more complicated” because he had to wait for toxins, like asbestos, to be cleared from the rest of the building before he could finish debris removal work. He said plans were underway, with a meeting he needed to attend with the planning commission that afternoon.

The board then voted to declare the property a public nuisance, but gave him an additional 30 days to clear it.

“A timeline for next steps is still being established for the eight properties which were declared a public nuisance at the October 8 hearing,” LADBS said to the Post on October 21. “Orders were previously issued to these sites prior to their being declared a nuisance.”

“The expeditious cleanup” of debris and “removal of irreparably damaged buildings resulting from declared local emergencies,” like the Palisades fire, “are essential in order to eliminate the public nuisance conditions,” read Los Angeles Municipal Code.

“The department is hereby authorized to issue orders requiring property owners to abate public nuisances,” LAMC continued. “The department is also authorized to cause the demolition of hazardous buildings and to remove the debris, rubbish or other dangerous or injurious materials; or to take other action as necessary to abate public nuisance conditions, and to cause the cost of the demolition, removal or abatement to become a special lien against the property.”