Playa Vista Plan Delayed Pending Review

Uncomfortable with having to swiftly recommend approval of a huge deal that could lead to construction of a new yacht harbor next to Marina del Rey, Los Angeles County’s Small Craft Harbor Commission Wednesday postponed consideration of the proposal until an outside consultant determines if it is a good one for the county.

The unanimous decision to seek an independent review came after nearly three hours of explanation on the financial aspects of an agreement that could lead to creation of a new harbor as part of the massive Playa Vista project.

“This is probably the most important, largest recommendation that this commission is going to make for a very long time,� Commissioner Herbert Strickstein said. “There is another city out there that is going to be built.�

The marina is one part of a massive new city-within-a-city that developer Maguire Thomas Partners is proposing to build on a vast tract of open land between Marina del Rey and the Westchester Bluffs that was long owned by the late industrialist Howard Hughes.

The commissioners, who advise the County Board of Supervisors on issues involving Marina del Rey, were concerned about various elements of the agreement negotiated privately by county officials and Maguire Thomas.

“We want a comfort level that this is a good deal for the county,� Strickstein said in seeking an independent analysis.

With the recession driving boat slip vacancies to record levels, Commissioners Louis Rogers and Carole Stevens also expressed concern about potential threats that a new, upscale Playa Vista marina might pose for the aging, county-owned Marina del Rey next door.

“I wouldn’t like to see problems with our present tenants based on competition with a new marina,� Rogers said.

Maguire Thomas senior partner Nelson Rising, who sat silently throughout the commission’s meeting, said he was surprised by the decision, which will mean at least a 60-day delay in signing the memorandum of understanding.

“It’s a very complicated transaction. It took us 57 meetings and negotiating sessions in 2 1/2 years to get to where we are,� Rising said. “They have to be comfortable with the transaction. . . . They’ve got a public trust.�

Maguire Thomas and its predecessor, Hughes’ Summa Corp., have long wanted to build a new marina as part of the Playa Vista project. The overall development--one of the biggest in Los Angeles history--would be home to 28,000 residents and provide 20,000 jobs.

But the northernmost piece of land where the marina would be built lacks one critical ingredient: access by water to Santa Monica Bay.

Without it, the Mediterranean-style waterfront community of residences, hotels, offices, shops and boat slips cannot be built on 139 acres of land-locked property immediately south of Marina del Rey.

With it, those dreams move one big step closer to reality.

The agreement would give Maguire Thomas the right to build a new boat channel across 1.8 acres of public land in Marina del Rey that now houses the headquarters of the county Department of Beaches and Harbors, a sheriff’s substation and a U.S. Coast Guard facility.

The deal outlined in a series of more than a dozen large charts provides for the county to be paid several ways for providing the crucial water access to the private developer across public land.

Maguire Thomas would pay the county fair market value (to be determined) for the slice of land, replace the building that will be demolished and pay the county $25 million over a period of years as compensation for the value added to their property by it becoming waterfront land.

The Santa Monica-based developer also would give the county 14.1 acres of its property where the northern half of the new Playa Vista marina would be constructed. Maguire Thomas would then lease that land and its 350 boat slips from the county for 99 years.

“We are getting a new marina free,� said Ted Reed, director of Beaches and Harbors. However, under the agreement the county would not receive any income from the boat slips until 20 years into the lease.

Although there were numerous questions about income from the boat slips, it was the $25-million payment to the county for the added value of waterfront property to Maguire Thomas that seemed to trouble some commissioners.