The proposal to build a skyway to link Dodger Stadium with Los Angeles Union Station and Chinatown faces another hurdle after a group of activists filed a lawsuit to have the project’s environmental impact report tossed out.
Citing California’s strict environmental laws, the Los Angeles Parks Alliance filed the lawsuit Monday, alleging that the environmental review was “fatally flawed” when it was approved last month by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, aka LA Metro.
The project has faced scrutiny by some environmental groups, as well as those who live in the Chinatown neighborhood who are concerned about traffic and parking impacts the gondola could bring to the area once completed.
The Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit project is backed by former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, who has spearheaded the effort to build the 1.2-mile line between the baseball stadium and downtown Los Angeles.
A nonprofit organization called Zero Emissions Transit, ZET, would ultimately own and operate the gondola. It’s estimated to cost around $500 million and would be paid for by private financing, fares, sponsorships and naming rights, the organization says.
Those who oppose the project have cited McCourt’s vested interest as one of the reasons the project should be scrapped. The Los Angeles Parks Alliance also claims the gondola would cause “irreparable harm” to the communities along its route and damage the air- and land-space of Los Angeles State Historic Park, alleging it would displace wildlife and permanently alter the park’s views.
In a news release issued Monday evening, the Los Angeles Parks Alliance said it had “no other choice” than to file the lawsuit and plead the case in court.
“The board’s action ignores 20 years of community advocacy that went into building a park in a neighborhood in dire need of green space and recreational opportunities and essentially gifts the public’s land and air rights to a billionaire for an illegal commercial exploitation,” said Jon Christensen, founding member of the group and an adjunct assistant professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability.
Despite selling the team and stadium in 2012, McCourt has retained ownership of its parking lots, leading some to speculate the gondola is the first step in a multipronged plan to redevelop the area. ZET has told the Los Angeles Times, among other publications, that there are no plans for development at this time.
Still, public opinion on the gondola project is somewhat split. Supporters boast its potential as a clean energy public transit solution in a city not known for either.
Baseball fans regularly have to battle bumper-to-bumper traffic on game days with little transit options available to them other than buses that load at Union Station and at the Harbor Gateway Transit Center in the South Bay. But that bus often runs into the same traffic drivers themselves face en route to the stadium.
The gondola is projected to have a maximum capacity of 5,000 riders per hour going both ways. The total capacity for Dodger Stadium is more than 54,000.
Project backers were hoping to break ground in the near future and possibly have the gondola operating in 2028 in time for the Summer Olympics and Paralympics. But new obstacles continue to pop up, despite Metro approving the environmental review.
In addition to this new lawsuit, last week, the Los Angeles City Council voted to approve a $500,000 traffic study which was proposed by Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez, whose district includes Chinatown.
That study, according to the Los Angeles Times, is aimed specifically at delaying the project and would require the council to “consider the results of the study before issuing permits or making decisions on land use.”
When reached for comment, a Metro spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.