Opinion - Ballona Wetlands Shakedown

OPINION: California taxpayers were soaked for nearly six hundred thousand dollars to settle litigation brought by four activist groups against the state Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). The people listed at the end of this article sued CDFW over the Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Their litigation delayed creation of a “Great Park” in our area for more than two years. Their payoff arose from a narrow court ruling in their favor regarding project flood impacts.

View the settlement documents for yourself at this Google Drive Link. The deal was negotiated by our state Department of Justice under Attorney General Rob Bonta, which defends our state agencies against lawsuits.

Above: Among other enhancements, the state plans to dig out the fill dirt dumped in this 200-acre area south of Fiji way and restore wetlands that existed there prior to Marina Del Rey construction. The court found no issues with that plan.

The opponents claimed the Project EIR was flawed in any number of ways, but the judge found only two flaws; one which required some rewording and another required a rerun of a computerized flood impact model. A few clicks of a mouse, in other words.

Plaintiffs are routinely awarded court costs and legal fees if they prevail in a case. In this case, the judge generously tossed a bone to the plaintiffs for their troubles.

Rather than spend more time and resources arguing about the dollar amounts in court, CDFW wisely settled with the plaintiffs. One of them, Grassroots/BEEP, reportedly asked for $600,000 alone and has appealed the judge’s ruling. They settled on a quarter of that, but their appeal is still active.

The flood model predicts impacts of a Ballona Creek flood in a future CDFW-restored wetlands, compared to the existing unrestored conditions. The root of the plaintiffs’ grievance was that the model merely assumed a major flood of Ballona Creek at a flow of around 46,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). CDFW chose that number because Ballona Creek’s concrete channel was designed to withstand that flood. The model rerun demanded by the opponents used a much greater flood flow of 68,000 cfs; a highly unlikely event which appeared in a more recent study.

For perspective, the ginormous record flood runoff we just experienced this February was only around 19,000 cfs at its peak. So, the model rerun assumes more than triple that flow, a once in 600 year catastrophic flood. A flood this size is simply unrealistic, which is why as a society we don’t waste trillions overbuilding our flood infrastructure. In the U.S. we traditionally build only to withstand a 100 year flood.

Above: The debris line at left marks the high water (11.64’) of the ~19,000 cfs flood in Ballona Creek at Centinela Avenue just days ago (2/4/2024). The channel tops out at 15’ here.

In the EIR, CDFW had written that the higher value would be analyzed during the subsequent federal permitting process, but the judge ruled it should be done now.

I believe the model rerun presently underway will show the flood impact of the proposed Ballona Wetlands Restoration Project will not change significantly, even at the higher 68,000 cfs flood flow. This is because the restoration will greatly broaden the creek’s flood plain west of Lincoln Boulevard, giving flood waters much more room to spread out into restored wetland areas.

Above: When Ballona is restored per the renderings above, flood waters will be able to spread across the area from Fiji Way to the foot of the Westchester Bluffs. Today, flood flows are confined to the existing concrete channel.

That hypothetical catastrophic runoff event, if it ever occurred, would flood populated areas far upstream before reaching the Ballona wetlands, where impacts would be limited to minor overtopping of the Marina jetty near the UCLA rowing launch ramp. That impact would occur even without the restoration project, according to modeling.

After more than two years of delays caused by these opponents and $560,000 from your taxes (not including the cost of the EIR revision), the plaintiffs’ gripe will likely turn out to be a big nothing-burger, as some learned hydrologists have predicted. CDFW will soon publish a revised EIR containing all the modeling details and get the restoration project moving again, notwithstanding the one opponent's appeal.

For future reference, the people who continue to delay your Great Park and figuratively picked our pockets, and their lawyers, are as follows.

• Walter Lamb, Ballona Wetlands Land Trust - Sabrina Venskus, counsel: $153,248
• Marcia Hanscom (agent), Roy Van De Hoek and Molly Bazeler, Defend Ballona Wetlands - Brian W. Pease, counsel: $125,000
• Patricia McPherson and Rex Frankel, Grassroots Coalition/BEEP - Todd Cardiff, counsel: $152,947 (appeal pending)
• Wendy Sue Rosen, Protect Ballona Wetlands - Jamie T. Hall, counsel: $128,975

Enjoy your Ballona Wetlands, and keep your hands on your wallets!

Author’s disclosure of affiliations:

Dr. David W. Kay served on the Board of Directors of the non-profit Friends of Ballona Wetlands from 2007 until 2015, and served as Board President in 2012-13. He presently serves on the Board of Ballona Discovery Park in Playa Vista. Dr. Kay is a staunch advocate for the state of California's plans to restore the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.

From 1984 until 2022, Dr. Kay was employed by Southern California Edison Company, exclusively in the company's environmental services organizations. His many responsibilities included restoration of the 440-acre San Dieguito Wetlands near Del Mar. He retired in 2022 as Senior Manager for Major Project Environmental Management at the company, after 38 years of service.

Dr. Kay earned bachelor and masters degrees in biology and a doctorate in environmental science.

See Dr. Kay’s Patch Community Contributor profile here.