Recreation and Services Director Gives WeHo Park Update

Recreation and Services Director, Steve Campbell, gave the latest WeHo Park update at a regular West Hollywood city council meeting on Monday, December 20, 2021.

“I don’t have anything substantially different to report from the last report that I gave,” he said via the digital ZOOM meeting. “The park is undergoing some–I hate to say repairs, but some alterations to the work that was done to make the playground and those areas safe. We expect to be able to take possession of the park hopefully sometime in late January to mid-February. The building itself, as I mentioned last time, we expect to have a full certificate of occupancy…sometime in March or April, of which time we’ll move to a phase approach with the pool being first because it is outdoors. The indoor area is always depending upon where we are with COVID at that time. We will continue phasing in the oppositions and programming.”

Council member John D’Amico said he needed to give a little pushback on behalf of the community members who question him about the opening of park. He asked if it was possible to take beneficial occupancy of the street that runs through the part at El Tovar Place (the address of the West Hollywood Aquatics and Recreational Center is 8750 El Tovar Place) and also was it possible to open the northern side of the park a bit by scaling back the fencing in the green space to allow public access from San Vicente to Robertson Boulevard through the park. “I understand that there are complications with doing that, but I think at this point there are benefits larger than the complications,” said D’Amico. “We are having a hard time, those of us who talk to our residents and businesses, explaining how it is that fixing the slide in the children’s playground means we can’t walk from San Vicente to Robertson.”

Campell stated that the city is in the process of opening El Tovar Place in the coming week or two. It will open to drive-through traffic between San Vicente and Robertson. People will be able to park in the five-story parking lot and have pedestrian access to Robertson from that street. “The building itself will be fenced off,” he said. “That is still going through a punch list. We are going through a process for acceptance on certain items. That is good news. The parking garage is open now for library patrons, who can park and gain access from the auto court to the library.”

Campbell ended his comments on the WeHo Park update by stating that he will look into making it possible to grant pedestrian access by way of the northern portion of the park.