LA's aerial gondola dream shot down by appeals court

LOS ANGELES (CN) — A proposal to build an aerial gondola to Dodger Stadium suffered a legal setback on Thursday when the California Court of Appeals rejected the approval of the project by the Los Angeles transportation agency, Metro.

The project would run 1.2 miles between Union Station, LA’s central transportation hub, and the stadium, offering thousands of Dodgers fans a seven-minute ride. Backers say it would take roughly 3,000 cars off the street on game day. But opponents argue it would forever alter the skyline over two parks — Elysian Park and Los Angeles State Historic Park, parts of which would be taken over by a middle station — as well as the historic city center, El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument.

Metro had approved the environmental impact report prepared by Zero Emission Transit, the nonprofit seeking to build the gondola. Two other nonprofits — the California Endowment and the LA Parks Alliance, sued Metro under the California Environmental Quality Act, arguing that the impact report failed to justify or take into consideration various impact that the project would have on nearby residents and parks. They also said the EIR failed to account for future development that the gondola might make more possible — many speculate that the gondola is the first step toward developing the vast asphalt parking lot that surrounds Dodger Stadium. The lower court judge rejected those arguments, finding that the environmental impact report, or EIR, was proper.

A three-judge appellate panel disagreed. Though the judges found that the EIR did nearly everything right, they noted two flaws.

First, the judges took issue with the EIR’s section on mitigating construction noise for nearby residents. While Metro found that construction of the product would create a “significant” level of noise, the plan called only for the erection of noise barriers, which would be of little help to apartment dwellers living in the upper unit. The EIR also rejected an idea to retrofit the apartment buildings with “sound insulation,” deeming that strategy “infeasible.” The judges found this reasoning conclusory — that is, the agency didn’t show its work and didn’t justify its conclusion.

“We agree Metro’s decision to reject acoustic retrofitting as a potential mitigation measure was conclusory and lacked substantial evidentiary support,” the judges wrote in their lengthy 119-page opinion. “Metro’s assertion that acoustic retrofitting is ‘generally only considered as potential noise mitigation’ for ‘significant operational noise impacts’ similarly lacks substantial evidentiary support.”

The panel also found that Metro failed to consult the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, a state agency that has jurisdiction over the two parks and the El Pueblo historic area.

The ruling doesn’t quite spell the death knell of LA’s gondola dream. Environmental lawsuits are common in California, and typically result in delaying the project a year or two. Zero Emission Transit will rewrite its EIR, taking into account the appellate court’s ruling. It will have to go through another long and costly round of soliciting input from the public, and holding public meetings before drafting a new version of the document. Assuming that Metro approves it, it could face another lawsuit on environmental grounds.

Still, LA Parks Alliance founder Jon Christensen, a UCLA professor, called the ruling a “huge victory.”

“It’s a complex decision,” Christensen said. “We disagree with some of it, obviously. But that’s the way these things go. If you win on one or two issues, it sends the EIR back for a redo, and it opens up the process again. Properly studying the potential mitigation for the noise during construction is really going to mean taking seriously the major impact this is going to have on residents in the area.”

Nathan Click, a spokesman for Zero Emission Transit, played down the ruling, saying the judges agreed with Metro on “the vast majority of issues — including all of the major issues.”

“The few issues where the court ordered more work to be done are minor, technical matters, which is a common part of the process for important infrastructure projects,” Click said in a written statement. “These can be addressed quickly. It is clear that Angelenos want and deserve efficient, sustainable transit solutions — and the public support for the Dodger Stadium gondola reflects that.”

Even before the ruling, there were major questions about whether or not the aerial gondola would ever get built. Its price tag, once quoted between $385 million to $500 million to build and roughly $9 million a year to operate, is expected to rise as tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump kick in. Backers say the money could be covered by private financing, and paid back by selling sponsorship, naming rights and fares.

But the financial hurdles pale in comparison to the gauntlet of political challenges the gondola faces. After the EIR gets final approval, it will still need to be approved Caltrans, which operates the freeways (the gondola’s route runs over the 110 freeway), and the State Park and Recreation Commission. It will also need to secure approval from the LA City Council, which has expressed a certain degree of skepticism over the proposal. Last year, the council ordered the city’s Department of Transportation to conduct its own environmental review.

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