The developer of a proposed aerial gondola tram to whisk people to Dodger Stadium has decided to turn over the management and construction of the project to a local environmental organization, just a few months before crucial public hearings begin on the project.

Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit, the gondola tram development company headed by former Los Angeles Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, agreed on Aug. 9 to donate the gondola project to downtown-based Climate Resolve, an environmental nonprofit that focuses on collaborations to fight the impacts of climate change.

Under the deal, Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit will continue to fund the entitlement phase of the project, but Climate Resolve – through a newly created subsidiary called Zero Emissions Transit – will be responsible for shepherding the project through the entitlement process and then assembling the funding package and managing the construction phase.

“There is an urgent need for innovative transit solutions to alleviate air pollution and fight climate change,” Jonathan Parfrey, executive director of Climate Resolve, said in the announcement. “The aerial gondola project is the first of what we hope to be many more zero-emission innovations.”

The role of McCourt and Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit in the project once the entitlement phase is completed has not yet been spelled out. A spokesman for Climate Resolve said more details are expected to emerge when the financing plan is released this fall.
The Los Angeles Aerial Rapid first proposed the tram in 2018, which will move a maximum of 5,000 people per hour per direction.