Phase 3a of the Airport Conversion Project has Officially Launched!

Survey closes on April 27th

The City of Santa Monica has launched Phase 3a (Three Scenarios) in the planning and outreach process for the Great Park at the Santa Monica Airport. We are excited to share this envisioning of the three scenarios including a critical public survey that we urge you to take before the survey closes April 27. There is a new Virtual Education Session (VES) that explores different approaches to understand potential benefits, impacts, feasibility, and trade-offs of six different layers (or master plan systems) for community feedback in the Layers Survey.

Since last year the City has been conducting a planning process for the conversion of the airport into a park, consistent with Measure LC. Phase 2 of that process recently culminated at the Jan. 28 City Council meeting where the Council adopted the 5 Guiding Principles for the process. The council directed staff and Sasaki, the City’s consultants, to begin the next stage, Phase 3, which will result in staff and Sasaki devising three alternative scenarios, centered on a great park, for the future of the site. These scenarios will be presented to City Council on July 8.

We have now reached an important juncture where staff and Sasaki are asking for critical input from the public. Specifically, the City’s team has released a survey to have the public compare and give feedback on six dimensions of the planning process. For each dimension you get to rank four different alternatives.

Top priority for all supporters of the Great Park is taking the survey — there are less than two weeks available before this survey closes on April 27th so it is critical you take it quickly!

Phase 3a Timeline and Next Steps:
• NOW: New VES and Layers Survey Launch;
• April 27th: Layers Survey Ends;
• May 5th: Letters of Interest due;
• May 17th: Save the Date! Community event showcasing the three test fit scenarios;
• May 17th: Online tool for feedback on the three test fit scenarios opens;
• Mid-June: Online tool closes;
• July 8th: Three test fit scenarios presented at the City Council meeting;
• Fall 2025: Preferred scenario engagement. 

In the survey, the City’s team asks you to “think big about what the full build-out of your ideal future site would be.” Accompanying the survey is an excellent video explaining this survey’s rather sophisticated methodology, terminology, and goals. The video is around 45 minutes long, and we highly recommend that you watch it before you take the survey (and keep in on your screen, because you may want to check back to video while taking the survey). The survey should take about 20 minutes, but can take significantly longer if you add comments (which we encourage you to do). After each section you can add comments about each of the alternatives included in the survey; for instance, you can say what you like and don’t like about each alternative.

Most of the survey involves sorting out competing ideas for park uses and design. As an organization, we have never taken a position about what will go into the Great Park, but we know everyone has their own ideas about that. This survey is your opportunity to give your own feedback about the park. Go for it and have fun!

Note: You may recall that City Council directed the team to come back with one scenario that was not compliant with Measure LC, to investigate means of financing the park by using land at the airport, including by means of housing or other development. We were not surprised by that. As you know, we oppose any ballot measure to override LC, particularly prior to airport closure, not only because we want to maximize the size of the park, but also because such a measure would increase the risk of outside forces, including the aviation industry, trying to hijack the process, and because a ballot will delay the park planning progress. However, we don’t think that you should ignore the parts of the survey that deal with housing and financing. The survey is set up so that you can both prioritize (“vote for”) scenarios that do not require a ballot measure and still comment on housing and financing issues which may nonetheless be relevant in the future.

We don’t want to sugarcoat it – watching the video and taking the survey can take well over an hour of your time. But this is a critical step in the Great Park planning process, and we believe that you will find taking the survey to be a very satisfying use of your time. So, please set aside some time to take this important survey. The survey closes April 27th!​

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to The Great Park Coalition or Airport2Park if you have any questions and/or would like to discuss any of these upcoming events.

Also please see:
Santa Monica Democratic Club meeting: The Future of SMO Airport

The Santa Monica Democratic Club (SMDC) has scheduled a membership meeting for April 23, (plus one in May or June) at which differing views on the conversion will be presented. SMDC’s plan after April meeting is to set up an ad hoc working group that will, in conjunction with SMDC’s board, develop recommendations to present to the membership for a vote at a later date still to be determined.
read more here