DWP has proposed the distributing station
be located on an approximately 1.9 acre undeveloped lot immediately adjacent to
Marquez Charter (the “Marquez Lot”) at 16931 Marquez Avenue, Pacific Palisades,
CA 90272. The location is in the heart of Marquez Knolls, a quiet
residential enclave populated by many families with young children. The
site is bordered by single-family homes to the south and the east, a canyon of
natural vegetation to the west, and Marquez Charter to the north. The
Marquez Lot borders the entire length of the southern fence of the Marquez
Charter lower playground.
The homes surrounding and the elementary
school directly adjacent to the Marquez Lot were developed in the 1950s. Around
1969, DWP set out to acquire a site for an eventual second distributing station
in the Palisades. Exercising a “low-key
community involvement approach” (i.e., a tactic “involving the ‘interested
individuals and public organizations’ only after permit applications are
filed’”), DWP reviewed three potential sites in Marquez Knolls and decided to
acquire the Marquez Lot. Without
focusing on public safety or the environment, DWP settled on the Marquez Lot
primarily because of its “lowest overall cost.”
Remarkably, in a 1969 Site Selection Report, DWP partially attributed
the lot’s “remarkably low” land value to its being “within a known unstable
area.” Undeterred by the site’s
geological problems, DWP initiated condemnation proceedings to obtain the land
by force when purchase negotiations apparently failed.
In 1971, DWP applied for a Conditional
Use Permit from the City Planning Department to allow construction of a
distributing-station on the residential-zoned lot. At the time, the CUP was quietly approved
without the benefit of today’s broad array of environmental protection laws and
regulations. Regardless, DWP ultimately
shelved the project for nearly four decades, and the Marquez Lot remained
undeveloped. Meanwhile, the surrounding residential area flourished, as
did Marquez Charter next door.
In 2010, DWP renewed its interest in
building a second distributing station in addition to the existing one in the
Palisades Village area. DWP re-evaluated
whether the Marquez Lot was still preferable or if a better site for the
proposed distributing-station existed.
DWP started preparing an “Addendum” to its original 1969 Site Selection
Report and retained outside environmental consultants to prepare a parallel
“Comparative Site Evaluation.” Completed
in 2011, the studies confirmed the many environmental and safety problems
regarding the Marquez Lot raised by the community since the February Town Hall.
These 2011 site selection and evaluation
studies further identified a new preferred site for the proposed distributing
station – an approximately 1.2 acre L-shaped property located at the
southwestern tip of Topanga State Park and that wraps around Fire Station 23. Accordingly, DWP preliminarily inquired with
State Parks about acquiring the land. DWP
also consulted certain “individuals of influence around the Fire Station Site.”
DWP’s trail of internal correspondence
suggests that, upon encountering their resistance, DWP redirected its focus to
the Marquez Lot, likely in hopes of garnering more support for putting the
proposed distributing station there instead.
