Dodger Stadium aerial gondola clears first legal hurdle but political challenges loom

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A Superior Court judge on Monday shot down a legal challenge to plans to build an aerial gondola running from Union Station in downtown LA to Dodger Stadium, but the challengers are holding out for city leaders to put up more roadblocks.

The project's private backers say the 1.2-mile, 7-minute ride would be free to people who attended the ball game and would, for the first time, connect the stadium — the third-oldest in the country, with the largest annual attendance — to the region's transit network, thus taking 3,000 cars off the road during game days. (Currently, fans can take a free bus to the stadium from Union Station, the city's main transit hub.)

The plan has been widely criticized by environmental and community groups who say the project would mar the skyline in the area it passes over, including the historic city center, El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument.

"The gondola will fundamentally harm the historic core of Los Angeles," Jon Christensen, an environmental activist and UCLA professor, told Courthouse News following Monday's hearing.

One of the primary concerns is over the 200-foot-long middle station of the gondola, set to be located at the entrance of State Historic Park, a long expanse that's become a frequent host of concerts and weekend events. The gondola, if built, would run directly over part of the park.

"You won't get to have that expansive public space," said Julie Meltzer, the founder of Clockshop, an arts and culture nonprofit. "It will be something different. I'm for more open space and limited amounts of distraction all the time."

Heading into Monday's hearing, the gondola proposal faced two lawsuits: one by the LA Parks Alliance, which includes Christensen, Clockshop and a smattering of other environmental groups, and one by the California Endowment, a multibillion-dollar statewide health foundation. Both groups took aim at LA County Metro, the region's public transit agency, which produced the environmental impact report, a legally mandated document that's supposed to analyze a large project's impacts to the surrounding community and offer up possible alternatives. California's Environmental Quality Act allows parties to sue to force agencies to redo the report.

Critics say the aerial gondola is the first in a series of chess moves by Frank McCourt, the widely reviled former owner of the Dodgers, who still co-owns the massive, 260-acre, 16,000-space asphalt parking lot that surrounds the stadium. In 2008, McCourt floated the idea of redeveloping the parking lot, putting some of that empty space to use on non-game days. The then-$500 million idea included a Dodgers museum, commercial space and perhaps even housing.

Opponents of the gondola say the existence of more public transit options would bolster the argument that less parking is needed.

According to the environmental groups suing Metro, the environmental impact report should have included the parking lot redevelopment proposal in its analysis since it was "reasonably foreseeable."

Superior Court Judge Maurice Leiter didn't agree.

"You’ve got a general statement on a website, public statements that are 12 years old," Leiter told the plaintiffs' attorneys before denying both writ petitions. "What is the evidence that there is any actual plan being contemplated to develop the parking areas?"

The judge added, "Future development may or may not happen, regardless of the gondola project."

The plaintiffs lodged a number of other objections to the environmental review: Metro shouldn't have been considered the "lead agency" to evaluate the document, that should have been the city; the review failed to come up with a proposal to mitigate construction noise for residents in upper floors of apartment buildings near the site; and the review failed to consider the motion of the aerial tram cars as "aesthetic impacts."

Judge Leiter rejected all of the arguments.

Nathan Click, a spokesman for Zero Emission Transit, the nonprofit seeking to build the gondola, responded to Leiter's ruling in a written statement after the hearing.

“Today’s ruling — the third of three rulings by a judge in the project’s favor — underscores the widespread public benefits of the gondola project to the community, transit system, and our environment," Click said. "While opponents of the zero-emission gondola system try to stall the project through poorly-considered lawsuits, the project continues to gather momentum — especially as Angelenos turn their attention toward the LA 2028 Olympic games."

Christensen said it's not the end of the road for the challenge to the project.

"We think the decision is flawed on both the law and the sum of the facts," he said. "This isn’t over. There is every indication that city leaders don’t like it."

Even though the environmental impact report was unanimously approved by Metro's 14-member board, it faces an imposing gauntlet of political and jurisdictional hurdles. If built, the gondola would have to pass over the 110 freeway, which is operated by Caltrans. That agency, along with the State Park and Recreation Commission, will both get to have their say.

Perhaps the biggest challenge is LA City Council. In March, the council voted 11-2 to order the city's Department of Transportation to conduct its own lengthy review of the project, which will take at least a year to complete.

The City Council member who represents the area, Eunisses Hernandez, called the gondola an "unsolicited, $500 million first-last mile project that will require the use of public land and airspace, including 20% of the LA Historic Park" — not exactly a ringing endorsement. It's hard to imagine the project being approved without the council member's sign-off.

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