Airport Agency Hopes to Land Energy Business

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For decades, the nearly 18,000 acres of Palmdale land purchased by Los Angeles World Airports for the future home of a massive air terminal has instead been home to nothing but an expanse of Joshua trees and desert scrub.

Now, LAWA, the agency that operates the city’s airports, is hoping to put some of that property to work – but not as an airport, rather as a privately developed solar or wind farm.

The agency started buying the Mojave Desert land in the 1970s, thinking it would one day need it when Los Angeles International Airport reached its limits. LAWA continues to operate a small regional airport adjacent to its massive land holdings, but so far hasn’t sought to develop the property as LAX has been able to accommodate its own passenger growth.

LAWA and the city Department of Water and Power have talked about putting a solar or wind farm on the site for years. Solar and wind power have been growing as an industry, but it’s still questionable that a private developer would be interested.

The land hasn’t been the subject of an environmental review and, in its request for proposals, LAWA said the winning bidder would have to go through all the environmental reviews and get all the necessary permits. That would mean going before various local and state bodies to get permission for such infrastructure as solar arrays or transmission lines.

Indeed, Mike Stern, chief operating officer of solar project developer Solar Electric Solutions LLC in Woodland Hills, said that permitting and getting access to the power grid are much more important considerations that the land itself.

“The transmission infrastructure is not there,” Stern said.

His company almost submitted a proposal for the site two years ago, when LAWA first issued a request for concepts and qualifications from energy developers, but didn’t because he said it wasn’t an attractive proposition.

This time around, LAWA will only accept bids from the 10 firms that responded to the 2010 request, with proposals due in October. Still, the agency isn’t entirely giving up on Palmdale as the site of a future major airport.

In its request for proposals, LAWA said it is willing to lease the land to an energy firm for up to 30 years or until it is needed for airport development – though the agency noted that a major airport would likely be “in the distant future.”

Rolling Out

Long Beach, which bills itself as the most bike-friendly city in the country, is hoping to have a bike-sharing system in place by early next year, a few months after a bike-share program will have started operating in four L.A. neighborhoods.

The Long Beach Department of Public Works in June issued a request for proposals from bike-share operators. Proposals came in last month and are being reviewed by city staff.

Allan Crawford, the city’s bicycle coordinator, would not disclose the number or names of bidders but said he hopes to bring a recommendation to the City Council next week. He wants to have a system up and running by February, when the city hosts the annual TED Conference that draws leading thinkers from around the globe.

“We think it’s a huge opportunity for the city,” Crawford said. “We view it as augmenting our (Metro) Blue Line and bus facilities, and it’s an absolute bonanza for our Convention and Visitors Bureau.”

Bike-sharing programs allow users to pay a small fee to borrow bikes for short trips and involve the construction of kiosks where the vehicles can be rented and returned. The city request for proposals does not specify the number of bikes or kiosks, but requires the program to focus on the downtown area.

The city issued a similar request for proposals in 2010 and several operators responded, but the program never got in gear. Bike-share systems were rare at the time and Long Beach planned on using federal grants to subsidize its program.

Now, the city has asked bidders to design a system that will not rely on subsidies. Bike-share programs in New York and one that will start in Los Angeles this year are privately funded, though cities often help operators with permitting and space for kiosks.

Step by Step

A century-old Terminal Island shipyard is one step closer to getting a long-awaited upgrade after the Los Angeles Harbor Commission last month approved the environmental impact report for the project.

The plan would allow Al Larson Boat Shop, founded in 1903, to tear down old buildings, build cement piers and install a modern system for hauling ships out of the harbor for repair. The $15 million expansion and renovation project – the shipyard’s biggest investment since the 1920s – still needs approval from the California Coastal Commission. But shipyard President Jack Wall said construction could begin early next year.

The port-approved plan has drawn opposition from the Los Angeles Conservancy and the National Trust for Historic Preservation because it allows Al Larson to tear down several historic buildings at the shipyard. But David Arian, vice president of the Harbor Commission, said the port should favor a historic business over historic buildings.

“My dad worked in the shipyards before and during WWII. They’re gone,” Arian said. “Al Larson is one of the only ones left. So if you want to really preserve the history and tradition of shipbuilding, you better preserve Al Larson.”

Staff reporter James Rufus Koren can be reached at [email protected] or (323) 549-5225, ext. 225

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