A key vote on an aerial tramway that would take baseball fans to and from L.A.’s Union Station and Dodger Stadium in Disney-like gondolas goes before the LA Metro board on Thursday, Feb. 22.
Metro staff recommends the 13-member board approve the Final Environmental Impact Report for the proposed 1.2-mile gondola project, which would allow the project developers to move forward. Next steps include purchase of properties for the 13-story towers that would hold up the gondola buckets, and permits from the city of Los Angeles and Caltrans.
But approval of the EIR includes 31 conditions, which include setting aside 25% of stadium parking lots considered for development, as affordable housing. It’s not clear how the conditions would affect the fate of the controversial project, should the Metro board certify the EIR.
The Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (LAART) project was submitted to LA Metro by L.A. Dodgers’ former owner Frank McCourt in 2018. McCourt owns 50% of the parking lots at Dodger Stadium which court records show he plans for development, including residential and retail uses.
Aerial Rapid Transit Technologies (ARTT), a limited partnership that McCourt formed, was bankrolling the environmental review and preliminary design process for the gondola project, with LA Metro as the lead agency. Last year, McCourt Global gifted the project to a new entity, Zero Emission Technologies. ZET is the nonprofit owner responsible for building, financing and operating the gondola project.
“We are reviewing them (conditions),” said Nathan Click, a spokesperson for ZET on Wednesday, who declined further comment.
Metro has included a Community Benefits Agreement with a list of conditions that must be satisfied before LAART can begin construction, according to staff reports. These include: a plan to expand the existing Dodger Stadium Express which shuttles passengers to the stadium entrance while converting to zero-emission electric buses. A similar condition…
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