Washington vs. West L.A.: will pluck, power and money be enough to stop the VA's plans?

FIVE years ago, preservationists discovered that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs was putting up a 45-foot neon sign on Wilshire Boulevard that could be seen from the nearby San Diego (405) Freeway.

The brightly-lit billboard was needed to guide people in and out of the campus, VA officials told the group, called the Veterans Park Conservancy. Officials also argued that they could generate needed revenue by renting out space on the sign to advertisers.

"It was more suited for Las Vegas than Brentwood," remembered Susan C. Young, founder and executive director of the Veterans Park Conservancy, which works with the VA to maintain and upgrade the 387-acre property.

Almost any other community in the nation wouldn't have stood a chance. But the well-heeled neighborhood groups of West L.A., working with local elected officials, forced the VA to mark the entrance with four large flagpoles instead of the neon billboard.

It's just one example of the many skirmishes over the years concerning the fate of the Veterans Administration campus, which is surrounded by some of the most expensive real estate in the country.

Those skirmishes could escalate into an all-out battle as the VA considers redevelopment proposals that range from the benign--essentially no change--to a combination of market-rate housing and a medical research campus.

"I think we have a right on our hands," said Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Los Angeles, whose district includes the campus.

Two years ago the Bush Administration launched an initiative to have the VA better utilize its real estate holdings for 18 sites around the country. So far, eight redevelopment options have been prepared for the West L.A. campus. At a marathon meeting late last month, hundreds of residents spoke against the proposals calling for commercial development.

VA officials are working through public input from the hearing, and the agency is expected to decide within a month or two if it will move forward with any of the recommendations. If the VA selects an option, consultants would then prepare a detailed assessment, from which the VA Secretary would make a final decision on whether to proceed.

This is no ordinary development battle. On one side is Washington, which doesn't need to file environmental impact reports and is largely protected from litigation, the two most powerful tools available to opponents of a development. "Present-day politicians and bureaucrats seem to discard past agreements whenever it's convenient for them," said Ricardo Bandini Johnson, an heir to the family that donated much of the VA land.

He is among a coalition of preservationists and influential community activists who have strong ties to elected officials such as Waxman and L.A. County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky. They argue that extensive development of any kind is sure to make what already is one of L.A.'s most congested corners into a traffic nightmare.

Long-term process

Nothing has been decided and it could be years before anything is. A panel advising the VA said it won't recommend commercial development, which VA consultants defined as shopping malls, movie theaters, convenience stores, fast food chains and industrial manufacturing.

That also means a 2001 plan to build more than 7 million square feet of commercial buildings--nearly three times Century City's size--won't be revived.

But a recommendation for mixed-use residential buildings containing ground-floor shops or restaurants is being considered, and so is a medical research facility with an office component. Those have drawn the most fire.

Recommendations to increase use of the campus by veterans are considered more acceptable. Residents, veterans groups and the VA generally agree that the complex--mainly the 800-bed hospital and its outpatient facilities--is underused.

Development opponents applaud renovating and re-using existing facilities--and even constructing a several-hundred bed home for elderly veterans on 12 acres off San Vicente Boulevard.

Any plan selected by the federal government would take several years to wend its way through the approvals system. By that time, a regime change in the White House or shifting priorities at the VA could make the plans moot. The federal government's slow and clumsy bureaucracy and its steady turnstile of administrators means any plan faces high hurdles.

"That's what has saved us from it being developed sooner," said Westwood homeowner activist Sandy Brown. "As administration changes or secretaries change, these plans tend to get shelved. It takes them a long time to get something on the books, and when they finally do the next guy comes in and gets rid of everything."

Brown, a no-growth advocate and veteran of Westside development battles, said taking on the federal government is far more difficult than pushing back a local or state project. "It wears you down," she said. "You work so hard to get rid of what is planned and then a new administration comes in and you have to start all over again."

The coalition's biggest asset, besides dedicated and deep-pocketed residents, may be Waxman. A powerful Democrat--even on Republican-controlled Capitol Hill--he has been central to organizing development opponents and keeping them informed.

When an amendment affecting the campus is attached to a bill in Congress, Waxman's staff notifies community groups and the offices of local elected officials. Before the Veterans Administration released its development proposals, Waxman and his staff met with VA officials to review the plans. When the VA was slow to distribute the reports, Waxman had his staff scan the documents from the briefing and post them on his Web site.

Change in secretaries

Still, the federal government has been able to flex its muscles. Though the VA is a federal agency and the campus is on unincorporated L.A. County land, neither Waxman nor Yaroslavsky were invited to participate on a 10-person advisory panel. "We argued for others to be involved," Waxman said, "but that didn't happen."

Waxman convinced former VA Secretary Anthony J. Principi to visit L.A. and meet with community groups. After the meeting, Pincipi promised no commercial development of the grounds.

But Principi was replaced last year by R. James Nicholson, and Waxman has been unsuccessful in getting Nicholson to offer those same assurances. "He hasn't shown ally interest in keeping that promise," Waxman said. "I don't think he or his staff showed much openness. They don't feel bound by what Secretary Principi said."

Frustrating local activists are the minimal obligations by the federal government when it comes to public meetings. Hearings on developing the VA campus are often held in the morning or late afternoon, when most residents are at work.

When meetings aren't held on the campus, residents find themselves driving to Long Beach or Riverside. Even when residents make the trek, Brown said decisions are made before the public has a chance to comment.

"The decisions are almost always made before testimony takes place," she said. "Their policy seems to be 'Keep the people away and when they show up give them only two minutes.'"

Young and other preservationists, community advocates and elected officials have called on the VA to conduct a land-use master plan before determining how to develop the property. So far, the VA has resisted those demands and continues to view its Westside campus as a business opportunity.

Jay Platt, a preservation advocate with the Los Angeles Conservancy, said the areas on campus that make money, such as the Wadsworth Theater, receive attention and maintenance, while the historic chapel remains in disrepair. "They seem overly concerned about a for-profit development scheme for the site," Platt said. "But they also need to make sure the tremendous importance of the VA campus doesn't falls through the cracks."

Stiff resistance likely

For now, the changes have been minor. The VA and the Veterans Park Conservancy are moving forward with a $2 million project to replace chain link fencing at the corner of San Vicente and Wilshire boulevards with wrought iron fences. The project is the first phase of a plan to build a 16-acre park at the corner.

The Veterans Park Conservancy is also working with the VA on restoring the campus chapel, recently renamed after Bob Hope. The chapel, built in 1900, is the oldest building along Wilshire Boulevard.

The chapel and an old Red Car station are landmarks on the National Register. In addition, Platt said there could be three historic districts that contain a number of "Spanish Colonial Revival medical buildings" on grounds west of the freeway.

On property it owns, the federal government is required to minimize the impact its development projects have on historical properties. And unlike the Victorian-style homes the government demolished more than 50 years ago to make way for the current facilities, Platt doesn't foresee more buildings being razed.

However, he said that when dealing with federal agencies nothing can be ruled out. "We have to wait and see," he said, "but at least there is an obligation to access impacts."

Any plan for redeveloping the VA campus will likely meet with stiff resistance from L.A.'s congressional delegation and the state's two U.S. senators--all of whom have signed letters opposing commercial development.

"If they want to go forward and develop this land there will be lawsuits and protests, and we will try to stop them," Waxman said. "How long that takes, I don't know. But it won't be quick."

RELATED ARTICLE: Pick and choose.

CONSULTANTS at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP put forward eight proposals for redeveloping the VA campus, but only those with commercial and residential uses are controversial.

RESEARCH

Summary: Light commercial and residential.

Renovations: Research facility would be located in renovated buildings on Wadsworth campus nursing home and mental health would go into renovated buildings

Construction: Acute inpatient tower and Veterans Administration office building on Wadsworth campus. NCA columbarium and California State Veterans Home on Brentwood campus. Medical office building, mixed-use residential, residential therapy program, open space.

EDUCATION/HOUSING

Summary: Retains northern portion of the campus for educational uses.

Renovations: Ambulatory care moved into renovated building, nursing home/mental heath center facilities renovated. Current Ambulatory/Hospital building renovated.

Construction: New acute inpatient tower and Veterans Administration office building on Wadsworth campus. NCA columbarium and California State Veterans Home on Brentwood campus. North Brentwood campus redeveloped for public educational use and/or potential new mixed-use construction.

VETERAN HOMES

Summary: Weighs heavily on construction but adds veteran housing.

Renovations: Ambulatory care would move into renovated building; nursing home/mental heath center would be located in renovated existing facilities.

Construction: New acute inpatient tower Veterans Administration office building on Wadsworth campus. NCA columbarium and California State Veterans Home would be built on Brentwood campus. Veteran treatment facilities, affordable veteran/family housing and nursing housing built on North Central and West Central campus.

MEDICAL INSTITUTE

Summary: Pharmaceutical research campus, possibly a Westside location for Amgen.

Renovations: Ambulatory care would move into renovated building, nursing home/mental heath center relocated into renovated facilities. Current ambulatory/hospital building renovated.

Construction: New acute inpatient tower and Veterans Administration office building on Wadsworth campus. NCA columbarium and California State Veterans Home would be built on Brentwood campus. Medical research institute and medical building on the Southeast Brentwood Campus.--Andy Fixmer