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Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (LA ART/Gondola) Project
Active
The Gondola project -a private development project using public land – threatens some of L.A.’s oldest communities.
Issue Details
Government Officials
Development Approval Process
Overview
The Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (LAART), or the Gondola, is a development that would connect Los Angeles Union Station to Dodger Stadium via an aerial gondola system. The project would irrevocably impact Union Station, El Pueblo, Chinatown, and the Los Angeles State Historic Park.
Despite widespread opposition, on February 22, 2024, the Metro Board approved the LA ART Project and certified its Environmental Impact Report (EIR).
On March 22, 2024, a City Council District 1 (Hernandez)-initiated motion was amended to consider the results and recommendations of the Dodger Stadium Traffic Assessment before taking actions related, but not limited, to the issuance of permits and entitlements for the LA ART project. The Dodger Stadium Traffic Assessment is intended to identify needed transportation improvements and will seek robust community engagement later this year. A lawsuit by the Los Angeles Parks Alliance was filed against Metro to halt the Dodger Stadium gondola project on March 25, 2024.
About This Issue
Former Dodger’s owner Frank McCourt proposed the gondola project on public land in one of the oldest parts of Los Angeles in 2018. McCourt partnered with Aerial Rapid Transit Technologies, LLC to fund the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) and preliminary design. In 2023, McCourt Global gifted the project to a new entity, Zero Emission Technologies (ZET), which will be responsible for building, financing and operating the gondola.
The Conservancy has raised concerns about the cumulative impacts to historic places and spaces in the project’s location, including Union Station, El Pueblo, Los Angeles State Historic Park, and Chinatown.
At present, the Dodger Stadium Express is a popular mode of transportation on game days and would benefit from added investment. However, the EIR fails to fully and accurately analyze a future bus system that accounts for an electric bus fleet that would create a zero-emission system with potential for serving a larger range of users. The EIR deemed the bus alternative the Environmentally Superior Alternative with less overall impact to the environment.
The Conservancy has also raised concerns about the project’s use of publicly-owned parcels for private use as detailed in the report. Such land would be better suited for affordable housing with its proximity to City services and employment opportunities.
Our Position
The Conservancy is one of 29 local organizations that opposed this project, including the Stop the Gondola coalition. We advocated for the L.A. Metro Board to deny the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) in favor of environmentally superior alternatives that would not harm the surrounding communities and their historic and cultural resources.
We raised various concerns about the overall project, including sighting, proximity, signage, lighting, noise and construction.
Cumulative impacts to the historic view shed in the vicinity of the proposed Alameda Station greatly alters the feeling and setting of this historic area. The location and massing of the Alameda Station are highly problematic and detrimental to the overall experience of significant historic places, including Union Station and Los Angeles Plaza Historic District. We proposed Metro and LA ART relocate the Alameda Station further to the north closer to the Mosaic Apartments to lessen the impacts to Union Station and Los Angeles Plaza Historic District, but no changes were made to the location of the proposed station prior to its approval.
The Los Angeles Plaza Historic District, better known as El Pueblo, is a collection of some of Los Angeles’s earliest historic resources dating to 1818. In 1970, the Los Angeles Plaza Park was designated as Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM) #64 and initially listed on the National Register in 1972. As shown in project renderings, the Alameda station with its wires and gondolas would obstruct views from various locations within the historic district. Further, Alameda would go from an open airy corridor to one that compresses passersby below a massive structure that crowds and disrupts the existing relationship between Union Station and El Pueblo.
In summary, our issues of concern are:
1. The purpose and need for LA ART is not fully demonstrated when environmentally superior alternatives are identified and available to be implemented
The Conservancy questions the purpose and need of the proposed project and has serious concerns about the cumulative impacts of the project on the surrounding areas.
At present, the Dodger Stadium Express is a popular mode of transportation on game days and would benefit from added investment. However, the report fails to fully and accurately analyze a future bus system that accounts for an electric bus fleet that would create a zero-emission system with potential for serving a larger range of users. The EIR has deemed the bus alternative the Environmentally Superior Alternative with less overall impact to the environment.
2. Historic and cultural resources and view sheds will be impacted and irreparably harmed by the LA ART Project
It is the Conservancy’s position that historic and cultural resources and view sheds will be significantly impacted by the proposed project.
If built, the LA ART will obscure the view, setting, and future overall experience of various historic places and spaces, including Union Station, El Pueblo, Los Angeles State Historic Park, and Chinatown. The Conservancy disagrees with the report’s findings and believes there would be significant impacts to numerous historic resources by altering their historic setting and overall feeling. With an imposing new Alameda Station that extends into National Register and Historic-Cultural Monument (HCM) boundaries, visitor’s experiences of Union Station would be dramatically changed.
While walking Olvera Street, the LA ART’s cables and gondolas would be seen passing by and from within the Avila Adobe on Olvera Street, L.A.’s oldest historic building, the Alameda Station would tower overhead. These visual impacts mixed with new signage, lighting, noise, and construction would prove detrimental to the overall vitality of the historic resource.
3. Draft EIR does not adequately address the proposed use and transfer of public rights-of-way and lands, applicable general plans, permitted legal use, and is in conflict with Public Resources Code 5019.59
The Conservancy is concerned by the project’s use of publicly-owned parcels for private use as detailed in the report. Such land would be better suited for affordable housing with its proximity to City services and employment opportunities.
4. Should the proposed project anticipate federal funding, Section 106 and Section 4(f) would be triggered and additional environmental review would be required
Given the project’s ridership, size, and station encroachment into Union Station and LA State historic Park, it is foreseable that additional government funds will be accessed despite claims to be 100% privately funded. Should that occur additional environmental reviews at the federal level will be triggered. It is common practice for the applicant/developer to submit federal environmental reviews in tandem with CEQA which is not how ARTT is proceding at this time.
5. Transfer CEQA lead agency authority to the City of Los Angeles
Lastly, the Conservancy believes the City of Los Angeles is better suited to serve as the Project’s lead agency under CEQA as it would be responsible for granting the majority of the Project’s permits.
You may view the full Metro Board meeting, here.
To see our full Final EIR comment letter, click here.
How You Can Help
Metro’s approval is the first of several required for this project to move forward. The project needs approvals from the City of Los Angeles, Caltrans, the California State Department of Parks and Recreation, and the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health before it comes back to Metro at a future date for construction approval.
Thank you to all who have advocated against the current project to date. We will stay engaged in the approval process and share updates as they become available.
