Residents filled Santa Monica City Hall Tuesday night in what organizers called the largest public show of support for Santa Monica Airport to date, urging the City Council to abandon plans to close the facility and instead pursue a hybrid approach that preserves aviation alongside expanded park space.
The overflow crowd at the May 12 council meeting — accompanied by 834 letters submitted to the council in preceding days — marked the latest escalation in a long-running debate over the fate of the 192-acre general aviation field, which the city has the option to close at the end of 2028 under a consent decree reached with the Federal Aviation Administration.
"Last night, hundreds of Santa Monica residents made it impossible to ignore what we have been saying all along," said Ben Marcus, chairman of Spirit of Santa Monica, an aviation advocacy group. "The community supports keeping the airport open while expanding park space and is not willing to be rushed into an irreversible decision over a Great Park plan that still has no funding behind it."
Emergency Preparedness, Economic Impact at Forefront
Speaker after speaker cited the airport's role in emergency response as a central reason to preserve it. Residents and aviation advocates pointed to the facility's use as a staging ground for aerial firefighting operations during the 2025 Palisades Fire and its role supporting law enforcement during the civil unrest of 2020.
Marcus also argued the airport is home to roughly 100 companies employing 1,000 workers and serves as a hub for emerging electric aviation technology. He said the facility could eventually relieve pressure on Los Angeles roadways by enabling short-range electric vertical aircraft — a technology he said is already operating at Santa Monica Airport in limited form.
Several speakers raised the prospect of long-term height restrictions being lifted if the airport closes, warning that surrounding neighborhoods currently protected by FAA airspace requirements could become eligible for high-rise development.
Jack Dams offered a more personal argument. He described a case in which a donor heart was flown into Santa Monica Airport two years ago, reaching a dying child faster than it could have been transported by ground or through LAX. "Because of it, that's the reason this kid's alive today," Dams said.
Poll, Funding Questions Cited
Supporters of keeping the airport open pointed to a scientific survey conducted by FM3 Research showing 67% of Santa Monica voters favor keeping part of the airport open and improving the land to include more community benefits, compared with 25% who support closing the airport as soon as possible and planning a new park.
Marcus and others also challenged the financial feasibility of the proposed park conversion, noting that the city's own estimates put the cost at approximately $2 billion. With Santa Monica carrying roughly $94 million in reserves while running an approximately $35 million annual deficit, supporters argued there is no realistic path to funding the project.
"There's no way they can afford to build a $2 billion park here," Marcus said, adding that without outside funding the land would likely be sold to developers — an outcome he said would produce more housing density, traffic and pollution, contrary to what park advocates envision.
Planning Process Continues Amid Debate
The city has been advancing post-airport planning through a multi-phase public outreach process that has included 87 public meetings and more than 12,100 online survey responses. In early 2026 the city released a Draft Framework Diagram organizing the site into eight interconnected districts. The city has also secured a $499,149 Los Angeles County grant to begin design on an initial 20-acre segment of the future park.
Closure of Santa Monica Airport, which has operated since World War I, would take effect at midnight on Dec. 31, 2028, under the 2017 FAA consent decree — the result of nearly half a century of legal and political effort by the city.
Housing Proposal Fractures Coalition
A separate dispute has emerged within the pro-closure coalition over whether affordable housing should be incorporated into the future park site.
Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights and local hospitality union Unite Here Local 11 has urged the council to designate a portion of the site — specifically a roughly 30-acre strip along the northern edge known as the Urban Edge — for 3,000 units of below-market-rate housing. In an April 22 letter to the council, SMRR co-chairs Denny Zane and Mike Soloff argued the Urban Edge is the most logical and least disruptive location for such development, noting that its northern boundary already abuts a planned 385-unit market-rate housing project by Boston Properties at 28th Street and Ocean Park Boulevard.
The proposal has drawn sharp criticism from the Santa Monica Airport2Park Foundation and the Santa Monica Great Park Coalition, which called the letter an attempt to disrupt the conversion process. The groups also raised legal concerns, arguing that housing at the airport site may be infeasible under Measure LC, a 2014 city charter amendment that restricts post-closure use of the property to parks and open space.
SMRR, meanwhile, has been gathering signatures for a November 2026 ballot measure that would amend Measure LC to allow up to 3,000 units of largely affordable housing on up to 25% of the site.
What Comes Next
Aviation advocates came to the meeting in anticipation of discussion or decisions by the Council regarding the airport and while no airport items were part of the May 12 agenda, airport supporters say they expect the council to weigh in again on the airport's future in the coming weeks. Spirit of Santa Monica said it would continue pressing residents to contact council members and build out a citywide coalition.
"Once you remove Santa Monica Airport, you can't get it back," Marcus said.