BEACH ACCESS VIA BRIDGE
NOTICE: Pedestrian / Bicycle Bridge Project Zoom Meeting - December 5, 2023
City Councilwoman Traci Park, in partnership with State Senator Ben Allen and the
City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering
Join us via Zoom on Tuesday, December 5th from 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm to discuss the Potrero Canyon Bridge Project. This bridge will safeguard pedestrians and bicyclists crossing from Potrero Canyon Park to Will Rogers State Beach across PCH.
Join us to learn more and share your input!
- Traci Park
Date: Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Time: 6:00PM - 7:30PM
Platform: Zoom Meetings App
Meeting ID: 160 325 6176
Passcode: 533703
Bridge To Will Rogers State Beach
Looking back at the genesis of George Wolfberg Park at Potrero Canyon, before the years-long process that led to the community recommending a bridge as the top priority of the Potrero Canyon Park Advisory Committee that George Wolfberg had chaired, this plan to include a bridge had already been clearly laid out in the June 1985 Environmental Impact Report for Portrero Canyon Park Development Project. That EIR describes the park itself in sentence two of the introduction as “a scenic pedestrian accessway between the Palisades Recreation Center and the Will Rogers State Beach Park.” It goes on to describe a planned park-to-beach connector both as “a pedestrian overpass” and “a permanent pedestrian bridge over PCH.”
One may wonder, then, why was park construction prioritized over bridge construction? Well, on the park side, the canyon was densely wooded with non-native trees and the hillsides still needed to be stabilized. Another reason was the bridge’s standing as a multijurisdictional connector (city park --> state highway --> county beach, all of which is in the Coastal Commission's jurisdiction as well) meant that funding needed to be sought from outside the city. After visiting the site in person, funding of $11 million was secured in the State’s budget thanks to our State legislators Senator Ben Allen and Assemblymember Richard Bloom.
Years of Advocacy by the Community
Potrero Canyon Community Advisory Committee (PCCAC), appointed by the City of Los Angeles City Council and the Mayor, was created in 2005 and issued its final report in 2008. For three years, the committee held monthly public meetings to reach a community consensus about the park’s design and uses.
This dedicated group developed a vision and met in a Brown Act public process with community members, City staff, and elected officials, as well as considered the requirements of the California Coastal Commission, to develop a plan for the park which would meet community needs and provide safety, enhanced habitat sustainability, and a place of beauty for all visitors to enjoy.
The Final Trail Uses and Facilities report provides the PCCAC's adopted plan to guide the design and development of a passive park. It was submitted on January 21, 2008, after three years of public meetings to obtain community input and develop this plan. Note the report's number one recommendation: A bridge to connect the park to the beach and county bicycle facilities.
The Thoughtful and Open Process: Why was a bridge considered the top priority?
The Potrero Canyon Community Advisory Committee worked to focus a landscape design that reflected the history, current climate needs, the efforts to capture and filter water runoff from the canyon, and California coastal habitat. Signage was created to enrich visitors with details about the habitat and wildlife in the park.
Please review this site, prepared by Friends of George Wolfberg Park at Potrero Canyon, to learn more.