CAO Deems Will Rogers State Beach Parking Lot ‘Infeasible’ Location for Temporary Homeless Housing

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

The City Administrative Office deemed the county-operated parking lot at Will Rogers State Beach an “infeasible” location for tiny homes or safe parking in a report dated August 10—one of 10 locations that were studied following a motion submitted by Councilmember Mike Bonin to look at the feasibility of sites across the district for temporarily housing people experiencing homelessness.

“In short, our City Administrative Office, which did the analysis, is essentially recommending no to most of the locations, is continuing to explore a handful of locations, and is urging the city instead to fund two solutions I have been championing for a while: the purchase of local motels for homeless housing and the expansion of the Encampments to Homes program, which just housed 211 people from Venice,” Bonin wrote in an emailed statement.

According to the full report, the Bureau of Engineering determined Will Rogers State Beach, as well as Dockweiler State Beach, are cost prohibitive for tiny homes, safe parking or safe sleep programs due to lack of infrastructure capacity, lack of utility capacity and fire safety.

“The beach sites were not built for 24/7 residential use, and thus, the sewer infrastructure is not suitable for homeless housing,” according to the report. “The power capacity would have to be increased at both beaches, and the nearest transformer is located 1,000 feet from the sites. There are no fire hydrants near these two beaches, and new hydrants would need to be installed as a requirement for residential use.”

The CAO also recommended the city not pursue tiny homes or safe camping at a privately owned lot at 5000 Beethoven Ave. in Del Rey, and recommended against using part of the West LA Municipal Building for interim shelter.

Bonin first proposed the motion to study the sites at the end of March, with City Council approving the motion in a 13-1 vote on Wednesday, May 26.

City Council heard the motion after the Homelessness and Poverty Committee voted 4-1 to move it forward during a May 13 meeting. Councilmember Joe Buscaino was the sole dissenting vote at both meetings.

Since the day it was proposed, the motion has drawn criticism from Palisadian entities, including the Pacific Palisades Community Council and Pacific Palisades Residents Association.

“PPCC agrees that homeless housing and services are urgently needed in Los Angeles,” the Executive Committee wrote in a letter to the CAO on June 10. “However, we disagree that a sudden, new emergency or extreme crisis exists that would justify use of clearly unsuitable public recreational sites, such as state park or state beach parking lots reserved by law for other purposes, for housing for any length of time.”

PPCC has written dozens of letters in opposition of temporarily housing people experiencing homelessness at the Will Rogers State Beach parking lot, recently urging City Council and the CAO that “no further time should be wasted on examining” the site for this purpose and instead to “turn our attention to productive efforts to find humane solutions and ascertain suitable, non-dangerous sites for homeless housing in Los Angeles.”

Several of the sites first suggested by Bonin have not been ruled out and will be further studied, including the use of Marina Del Rey boat launch ramp, Parking Lot #2, for a tiny home village or safe sleeping site; a vacant lot owned by Culver City on Venice Boulevard for a joint homelessness intervention with Culver City and Los Angeles; parcels at LAX for a tiny home village or safe sleeping site/safe parking; and an RV park at Dockweiler, which potentially could be used for safe parking.

“I had asked the city to examine a variety of locations because we are facing an urgent and growing crisis, and unhoused residents, housed residents, neighborhood councils and federal judges had asked me to explore tiny homes and sanctioned camping with services, security and sanitation,” Bonin wrote in the statement. “I refuse to accept the status quo of encampments everywhere and people dying on our streets, and I will leave no stone unturned in searching for alternatives. I appreciate those who share that sentiment, and supported conducting a feasibility study.”

Bonin detailed what was next in terms of housing people experiencing homelessness, including building on the Venice Beach Encampments to Homes Program by bringing it to other places in the district, including Westchester and Mar Vista parks.

“I will also ask that the city continue to explore the four sites that the CAO is assessing and ask that any proposals undergo a public process to gain community feedback prior to consideration of approval,” Bonin wrote. “I won’t be asking the city to pursue the sites the CAO indicates are infeasible.”