AEG, Environmentalists Disagree on Need for Stadium Legislation
Gensler / AEG
A rendering of Farmers Field, AEG's proposed $1.2 billion stadium and events center.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Environmental groups and AEG disagreed about the need for special legislation to protect the company proposed Farmers Field stadium project from litigation today, even as they agreed on their desire to see the project happen.
AEG head Tim Leiweke was firm in his insistence that the company must get certainty on the timeline for any environmental lawsuits before it can continue with development.
"We cannot and will not move forward on this project with that uncertainty hanging over our head," Leiweke emphasized on Friday, "because the NFL will not commit to Farmers Field with that hanging over our head."
"The clock is ticking and so is the checkbook."
The company has asked that challenges to its environmental documents get sent to an arbitrator or a time-limited review rather than be subjected to a potentially dragged-out lawsuit.
Environmental groups believe there are existing mechanisms that the City of Los Angeles and AEG could use to speed the process. "There's plenty of time to get this case resolved under the process we have now," said David Pettit, Senior Attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Suits brought under California's Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) often lead to delays of six to nine months while city officials compile the administrative record, said Pettit. If that process was scheduled to instead be completed at the same time as the project's environmental documents, Pettit believes AEG would be able to complete its project without creating CEQA precedent.
That's unlikely to be enough certainty for Leiweke. He believes Farmers Field is likely to be the subject of a lawsuit from Majestic Realty, backers of a competing project in the City of Industry.
"There's not a question in my mind that people that go around and question character are going to be people that litigate," said Leiweke, referencing a quote by Majestic's John Semcken calling Leiweke a "bad man."
"They spent the week in Sacramento," said Leiweke. "Frankly I think they did themselves a disservice, because almost everyone who came back to us was shocked at how they trashed us."
Update: Majestic sent out a statement on Friday evening denying that it would consider filing a suit.
“In over 70 years Majestic Realty has never sued a competitor and has no plans to sue a business partner. We are 100% committed to returning the NFL to our region and have shown the league and the teams the tremendous economic upside of our project," said John Semcken, Vice President of Majestic Realty.
State Senator Kevin De Leon chaired the hearing of the Select Committee on Sports and Entertainment. He said it remains to be seen whether the legislature will act before September 9, the last day to send bills to the Governor during this session.
"We're going to go back on Monday, and we're going to have discussions with the leaders of both the Assembly and the Senate," said De Leon after the hearing.
Still, he says even that September 9 date isn't an absolute.
"If nothing is done within the frame of September 9, that doesn't mean all is lost. A special legislative session can always be reconvened."
downtown vibe on August 26, 2011, at 03:25PM – #1
This is complete BS on the part of AEG.
I believe that the real goal behind this legislation is to ensure that AEG doesn't have to make any additional infrastructure improvements. Notice that street and freeway improvements are being made for AEG....before the EIR demands them.
Convenient.
If the law needed to be changed it should have been done objectively and independently of any demands made by AEG.
The law is for all of us.
Tony Hoover on August 26, 2011, at 04:09PM – #2
There were dozens of ligitimate projects for Hollywood that would have changed the shape of that neighborhood for the better. Almost all of them were either killed or severly delayed due to CEQA resulting in a tremendous loss of jobs and a new tide of development in areas that sorely need the investment. I understand the value of CEQA but unfortunately, like so many other things, people have abused it and not to the advantage of the community but to themselves. I feel AEG has the right to be concerned and should fight this battle not only for the stadium but for the city that has lost billions of dollars in development as a result of this poorly written law.
Dion on August 26, 2011, at 04:36PM – #3
Downtown Vibe, those improvements are being made because of the Staples Center and LA Live if im not mistaken. it was part of the EIR for those projects.
AEG has stated numerous times that they will make infrastructure improvements. They have yet to break any promises in the 12 years they have been developing in DT LA, so i dont see why they would start now when this is the center piece of it all.
David McBane on August 27, 2011, at 10:55AM – #4
downtown vibe - AEG is still going through the whole EIR process and since the EIR is a public document, everyone is going to know what infrastructure improvements will be needed for a stadium to be built.
The legislation AEG is asking for is protection from lawsuits saying that the EIR is inadequate. AEG is NOT asking to not do an EIR, just protection from lawsuits for its conclusions. Those lawsuits can be very time consuming to resolve - literally multiple years and with a deep-pocket competitor being able to fund them, lawsuits in the traditional sense will kill this project.
Finally, AEG has already publicly stated that it will be making infrastructure improvements for the stadium and it is also stated in the Memo of Understanding with the City. Seriously, AEG is not trying to get out of doing infrastructure improvements. They are trying to protect themselves from the very real concern of long-lasting lawsuits.
Twirly Burly on August 29, 2011, at 12:21PM – #5
When AEG first came up with the idea, they severely miscalculated how long it would take to clear CEQA and the uncertainty involved. This project has serious impacts on traffic congestion, overflow parking in local residential neighborhoods, urban use planning, police and emergency services, etc. The year 2016 might as well be some random date that AEG tossed out there for public consumption. But the reality is that this kind of project might not get off the ground till the year 2020. There are simply too many impacts to the local community that were poorly thought out when the concept first emerged.
downtown vibe on August 30, 2011, at 08:16AM – #6
David,
Ask their design firm, Melendrez how they created a "Sports and Entertainment" District just for them and used it to stop people from asking for improvements in the first place. They have been doing this since Staples Center.
They are hijacking the EIR process and turning it 180 degrees against the public. FACT.
Anybody who thinks that the public is involved in the process AT ALL at this point is extremely naive.
Also, once the law is open to discussion AEG will have their friends in Sacramento insert whatever they want into the fine print.
Example:
The Mayor couldn't raise the cost of electricity to pay for the new state clean energy standards. So what did he do? He just had the DWP exempted from state air quality rules.
Mayor's Cousin, John A. Perez, and State Senator Kevin De Leon will take care of everything. It is very easy if you are connected.