Below is a letter we sent to City Council to spotlight the widespread community support for the Great Park Framework Diagram, including pro-Framework votes from seven (7) City boards, commissions, and advisory bodies plus overwhelming support for the plan among the 4,200 residents who participated in the Framework Diagram community survey.
Mayor Caroline Torosis and Members of the City Council
City of Santa Monica
1685 Main Street
Santa Monica, California 90401
Re: May 12, 2026 Council Meeting – Item 1. (General Public Comment) – Community Support for a Great Park Framework at the Santa Monica Airport Site
Dear Mayor Torosis and Councilmembers:
On behalf of the Santa Monica Great Park Coalition, we write to express our strong support for the continued planning and implementation of the Framework for the Great Park at the Santa Monica Airport site following the airport’s closure on December 31, 2028. As you know, the Great Park Coalition continues to grow stronger every day as the vision for this project becomes clearer, with 85 nonprofit organizations representing more than 35,000 residents united behind a common goal for our community. As we also know, aviation interests have recently commenced a well-financed social media campaign to distract and divert attention from our community’s efforts to close the airport and reclaim this public land for public use.
Over the past two years, the City has conducted one of the most extensive public planning and community engagement efforts in Santa Monica’s modern history. Throughout this process, residents from across the community have repeatedly and overwhelmingly voiced support for transforming this publicly owned land into a vibrant Great Park that serves the recreational, environmental, cultural, and open-space needs of current and future generations. While there have been many important developments over the past 18 months, we particularly wish to highlight the following recent milestones:
• Recent Commission and Board Support: Over the past several weeks, numerous City boards, commissions, and advisory bodies have voted in support of the Framework plan, including the Recreation and Parks Commission, Arts Commission, Sustainability Commission, Airport Commission, Urban Forest Task Force, Fields Sports Advisory Committee, and Community Gardens Advisory Committee.
• Community Survey Participation: More than 4,200 local residents participated in the survey accompanying the draft Framework, with an overwhelming majority supporting the City’s proposed Great Park plan.
The community’s vision has been clear and consistent. Residents have called for athletic fields for youth and adult sports, recreational amenities for families and seniors, arts and cultural spaces, community gathering areas, walking and biking paths, habitat restoration, climate-resilient open space, and other public-serving uses that reflect Santa Monica’s longstanding values and urgent park needs.
This vision is also deeply rooted in the history of the property itself. Just last month, the Great Park Coalition celebrated the centennial of the 1926 bond measure that authorized acquisition of the land with a community picnic attended by more than 300 residents. Before the site was turned over to aviation uses during and after World War II, the property served as one of the City’s original recreational spaces, including a golf course, athletic facilities, and other community-serving amenities. The closure of the airport in 2028 presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore this public land to broad public use and benefit.
As Santa Monica continues to grow and densify, the need for parks and recreational space has become increasingly urgent. The airport property represents the largest opportunity for new parkland in Los Angeles County in generations. The creation of a Great Park at this site will substantially improve quality of life for residents throughout Santa Monica and the surrounding region by providing long-needed recreational facilities, environmental benefits, cultural opportunities, and accessible public open space.
We respectfully urge the City Council to continue moving forward with confidence and clarity toward implementation of the community’s vision for a Great Park at the airport site upon closure of the airport at the end of 2028. The public process over the past two years has demonstrated overwhelming support for this direction, and the residents of Santa Monica deserve to see this long-awaited vision realized.
Thank you for your leadership and continued commitment to the future of our community.
Respectfully submitted,
Santa Monica Great Park Coalition
