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Email to be sent to the Councilmembers:

Subject: Support City Attorney’s request for legal funding

Councilmembers,

As a community member, I am deeply concerned about the Venice Dell project and urge you to fund the City Attorney’s defense against these meritless lawsuits. Moving forward with this project would expose the City to enormous financial and legal risk.

Key concerns:

• Extremely high cost: Estimated total cost is $233 million, including the value of City land and a new parking structure. That equals over $2 million per small “affordable” unit — an indefensible use of taxpayer funds.
• Loss of valuable public land and revenue: The City would give up land worth an estimated $70 million. The City would also lose about $750,000–$1 million per year in beach parking revenue.
• Parking replacement would cost taxpayers millions: Replacing existing beach parking would require a new garage with over $36 million in long-term debt service. This comes at a time when the City is already facing serious budget constraints.
• The Board of Transportation Commissioners (BOTC) already rejected this project: On December 10, 2024, BOTC voted 5-0 to deny use of lot #731 for Venice Dell housing. The City Council did not overturn that decision, so it is final and binding.
• Even the court raised red flags: A Superior Court judge noted with respect to the project that there are “very good arguments they are squandering money here.”
• Serious process and legal problems: The site was wrongly labeled “surplus or underutilized,” even though it has long been used for coastal access parking, a boat launch for Venice Canals access, and 4 units of existing affordable housing, and provides upwards of $750,000 in City Revenue. Key financial documents and risk warnings were not provided to City Council before initial approvals.
• Better alternatives exist: Lot 701, directly across the street, is genuinely underutilized and already approved for a feasibility study. Housing can be built there without sacrificing coastal access or public parking.

Bottom line:

Defending the City against these lawsuits is far cheaper and far safer than reviving a deeply flawed project. Venice Dell would primarily benefit the non-profit developers and banks — not taxpayers, not the unhoused, not the community, and not the millions of visitors to Venice Beach. Please protect the City by funding the City Attorney’s defense against frivolous lawsuits and let’s move on to better solutions and leave the deeply flawed Venice Dell project in the past.

Thank you-