Critics Urge Judge to Move, Downsize Nature Center

Palos Verdes Peninsula residents and the San Gabrielino/Tongva Tribal Council argued Friday that a planned nature center would be too large and a blot in what is already a beautiful nature park.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Joseph R. Kalin heard arguments Friday about whether the planned nature center, sometimes called a monument to outgoing County Supervisor Deane Dana, should be built as currently planned atop a park hill or whether a smaller version should be built at the edge of Deane Dana Friendship Regional Park.

The $4.4 million, 6,400-square-foot center would have an institutional kitchen, a banquet room, two fireplaces, velvet curtains, exhibit space for Dana’s memorabilia and a 66-car parking lot.

The 123-acre park straddles the border between San Pedro and Rancho Palos Verdes. It has a number of unpaved trails and is the site of an ancient San Gabrielino/Tongva village.

Friends of Friendship Park want the county, which in November approved construction of the building, to reevaluate the project by performing another environmental impact report that would consider a more compact center in a different location.

Xochimilco Portillo, a San Pedro resident who performs a number of Native American ceremonies at the park, believes there is no need for a building on the land.

“The nature center already exists. You just need to walk up there and look,” she said. “Putting a building there is like putting a mask over your face.”

Helen Parker, the attorney representing Los Angeles County, maintained that the county considered 12 locations and the proposed nature center was the best because it provides a paved access to a section of the park only available to hikers.

Judge Kalin took the request for a new report under consideration.