SR-308-002 (6)
..
. Santa Momcat call.a. December 3, 1979
317 3- 00"2- /1 ,c
DEe 1 1 1O~')
TO: Mayor and City .... ....(-
Councll
FROM: City Staff
SUBJECT: Discussions wlth the State and County concernlng
Beach Operatlng Agreement
.,- ,
Introductlon
ThlS report concerns the status of the renewal of the Beach Operating Agreement
wlth the State of Callfornia.
Background
The Clty'S Operatlng Agreement with the State of Callfornia for the Santa
Mon1ca State Beach explres December 21t 1981. As a condit1on of that Operatlng
Agreement, the Clty Counc1l has recently approved. and staff has presented to
the State Department of Parks and Recreatlon. a Master Plan for the use of that
beach. Staff has been notif1ed by the Director of Parks and Recreat10n for the
State of Callfornia that the plan has been approved adm;nlstratively and wlll
be heard before the State Parks and Recreation Commission in the Los Angeles
area ;n January, 1980. Official approval of the Beach Master Plan must be made
by the State Parks and Recreatlon Commission.
D1Scuss;on w1th the State Director of Parks and Recreatlon has indicated that
there ;s deslre on the part of the County of Los Angeles to administer the
Santa Monlca State Beach when the present operating agreement expires. It 1S
assumed the County of Los Angeles would use the revenue generated by the beach
park1ng lots 1n Santa Monica to help defray the costs of ltS beach malntenance
operatlon throughout the County area. It 1S also staff1s assumption that the
1/ ~
nee 1 1 1979
, TO:
Mayor and City _cn
4111Jcember 3, 1979
--
-2-
County would be amenable to the C1ty of Santa Mon1ca contributing funds toward
the cost of the llfeguard serVlces provlded by the County in Santa Monica. As
another solution to its problem, the County might rel1nquish responsib1lity for
the llfeguard operat1on on th1S sect10n of the beach to the City of Santa Mon1ca.
In 1974, the County of Los Angeles assumed the lifeguard service from the Clty
of Santa Monlca. At that tlme, the lifeguard service budget was approximately
$435,000. Th1S added to the cost of operating the beach park1ng lots and
cleanlng the beach, caused the expenditures to exceed the revenue from the beach
parking lots by approx1mately $200,000 a year. It is staff's estlmate that 1t
would cost $800,000 to prov1de the same level of serV1ce today as provided by
the C1ty in 1974.
The present beach maintenance budget is $370,000. The present beach park1ng
lot budget 15 $250,000. Add1ng the projected 11feguard budget to the figures
would project an expend1ture of $1,420,000 on the beach in 1981. It is
ant1c1pated that the beach parking lots and other leases on the beach will
generate approximately $1,000,000 in revenue or a projected short fall of
$420,000. The General Fund could cover this expenditure temporarily.
Recommendation
Counell has indleated several times in the past that it desires to renew this
Operatlng Agreement. Staff concurs 1n that posltion and strongly recommends
that the Council retaln control of the beach. It is staffts recommendatlon
that Council glve directlon as to 1tS present posit1on concerning this matter
~.
--
TO: Mayor and City.cn
4IIIlember 3, 1979
-3-
and that staff be authorized to engage in a dla10gue with both the State and
County to reso1ve thls problem.
Prepared by: Donald T. Arnett, Director
Recreation and Parks
DTA:pp