Field Trip to Playa Vista

On October 28, 2006, seven of the fourteen members of the Community Advisory Committee, along with Mr. Bisno, members of his staff, members of Councilwoman Hahn's staff, and at least one member of the L.A.City Planning Department took a field trip to visit Playa Vista.

I was one of the members of the committee to make the trip and found it very informative. When Playa Vista's two phases of residential construction are completed, the population density will be greater than what is planned for Ponte Vista.

It is a little hard to compare apples to apples with regards to Playa Vista and Ponte Vista;
Playa Vista will have over 400 acres of residential, commercial, and business uses. Only about 111 acres of land are projected to have residential units on them.
Residential units within Playa Vista run from apartments all the way to detached single-family homes, or "Patio Homes" as they are referred to.
There are town homes being built either under or over "condominiums" in many buildings.
The buildings are built using different styles, colors, and configurations.
The vast majority of streets within Playa Vista are public.
An elementary school, public library, and fire station will be built within Playa Vista.
There are several recreational areas, and as many as three, off leash dog parks planned.
Playa Vista will have some "Affordable Housing" with rental apartments and low priced homes for sale.
The "Senior Housing" in Playa Vista will be per building and not set apart from the rest of the project.
There will be an assisted-living building as part of the project.
Playa Vista will have business parks, large retail businesses, restaurants, shops, and other publicly accessible areas.
Playa Vista is built on primarily flat, even ground.

Ponte Vista is planned for 2,300 condominium homes on 61.53 acres.
The artist's conception of the buildings show a common style and color for the residential buildings.
The streets inside the gated community are private.
There may be one off-leash dog park, which will probably be public.
The commercial stores will be for residents only.
There will be a separate "55 and better" group of buildings.
Ponte Vista is designed to be a private community with public areas outside the fences.
Ponte Vista is proposed to be built on sloping ground.

I do have opinions that were brought more in focus for me because of the field trip and interaction with more folks from the Bisno Development Corporation. I sat next to Mr. Bisno on the trip back from Playa Vista and I felt very comfortable talking with him. He and I both know we disagree about things concerning Ponte Vista. But there are some things we do agree on.
I feel both of us would like to see a road between Western and Gaffey and continuing on to ramps for the Harbor Freeway. We both seemed impressed with the off-leash dog park that seems to be one of the most used communal areas at Playa Vista.

Being a caveman, I like things kept simple. I like the artist's conceptions of the ways the buildings might look in Ponte Vista, even though I don't like the number of buildings. I found the different styles of buildings and the various colors, at Playa Vista, not too pleasing to look at. I am still very much liking single-family homes as compared to large residential buildings. In some areas of Playa Vista I thought the landscaping did a good job hiding the buildings. In other areas, the landscaping didn't work at all for me.

I, along with the other committee members on the field trip, wanted to know as much information as we can get about the traffic, demographics, and specific densities of Playa Vista. I think when we know that information, we will be able to actually compare the two fairly different projects together. Many of us want to take a field trip to compare the Ponte Vista Project to lesser dense sites and some single-family only areas. When I have compiled my comparisons, I will publish them on this blog.