Stretching along Valley Drive and Ardmore Avenue from Sepulveda Boulevard to the border of Hermosa Beach, Veterans Parkway has long been a beloved asset within the Manhattan Beach community.
Over the years, many residents have become so vested in the park, which includes a 1.5-mile walking trail, that they, with city staff, took it upon themselves to weed out dead plants and trees and bestow new ones.
“The problem was, some members of the community were not entirely happy with what the volunteers had planted in the parkway in conjunction with staff,” Mayor David Lesser recalled at the City Council meeting Tuesday. “They felt they didn’t necessarily have a voice, and some called for some form of guidelines.”
That’s what prompted the prior City Council to address the longstanding lack of framework for Veteran’s Parkway, Lesser explained, ultimately hiring last December a landscape architecture firm, Mia Lehrer + Associates, to develop some sort of agenda for the 21-acre park.
Six months of site analysis, research and three well-attended public workshops later, the firm came before council Tuesday to present the Veterans Parkway landscape master plan guidelines. Council approved the plan unanimously, subjecting it to minor corrections by Lesser.
During the community outreach process, residents expressed they want to “keep this park as a community asset” by keeping the “natural, unplanned rustic look,” Lehrer said. The master plan guidelines, she explained, reflect that consensus while guiding future improvements, maintenance and donor policy with the goal of maintaining, restoring and improving the landscape.
Some initial recommendations include adding a new, uniform family of signage, installing safety precautions such as railings to stairs, removing dead or hazardous plants and solving slope stabilization, drainage and erosion issues. The guidelines demarcate the parkway into 17 zones based on ecology and landscape elements, with specific recommendations for each reflecting existing site conditions and planting palate.
The four sets of guidelines dictate how the city should proceed with process and permitting, planning and design, site preparation and installation, and finally, landscape maintenance. Implementation is phased by priority, from addressing soil stabilization and pest control to long-term interventions like succession planting for longevity.
Estimated costs were marked by priority and zone. Phase 1 construction for Valley Drive ranged from $423,000 to $706,000; 15th Street Gateway from $165,000 to $282,000; Manhattan Beach Boulevard gateway from $115,000 to $200,000 and the Hermosa Beach border area from $640,000 to $1,035,000.
Council expressed concern about financing the master plan, but Mayor Pro Tem Amy Howorth said the city can always undertake the project “when we do get the funds.”
“It’s a guideline – it’s not saying we have to spend this money,” Howorth said. “We need to look for the big money whether it’s through funding, grants … we do have to take responsibility for public safety and how we manage our resources.”
