> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # You don’t say: 415 planners awaitinput - URL: https://www.smdp.com/you-dont-say-415-planners-awaitinput/ - Published: 2005-12-03T16:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T08:15:45.000Z - Author: Ryan Hyatt - Tags: Environment, Santa Monica, #archive-import *Davies planners hope to take turn for better* 415 PCH — It’s going to be four years and at least $24 million before Santa Monica residents have a beach club to call their own. What’s more, more parking spaces and a traffic light may be required before visitors can enjoy the old Marion Davies estate, located at 415 Pacific Coast Highway. Those wishing to discuss noise, traffic or other environmental issues that may arise from the two-year construction project planned to renovate the five-acre estate — built in the 1920s by newspaper giant William Randolph Hearst — have until Dec. 22 to contribute to the 600-page environmental impact report. The written comments will be incorporated into a final environmental impact report which City Hall will present to various government agencies, starting with Santa Monica’s planning commission, in order to obtain necessary permits. City Hall hopes to begin construction on the project in December of 2006\. The renovations are expected to be completed in time for a public opening by January of 2009\. In October, project leaders and consultants met with 110 community members to discuss the emerging design schemes to rehabilitate the site. Two workshops were hosted by Pankow Special Projects, Ltd., the Pasadena-based design firm contracted by City Hall in July to manage the project from conception to completion. The estate is expected to offer members of the public a unique location to host banquets, barmitzvahs, weddings and other events, as well as provide recreational activities for visitors to include a children’s playground, pool, volleyball courts, maybe even paddle tennis, said Libby Carlson, who works in City Hall’s community and cultural services department. The major source of funding to refurbish the property is a $21 million grant issued to City Hall last December by the Annenberg Foundation, a corporation established 15 years ago to help develop more effective ways to share ideas and knowledge. In July, City Hall agreed to kick in $3 million to round out the project. The city’s landmark commission, California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the state’s Coastal Commission will also have a chance to review the final environmental impact report, said Karen Ginsberg, assistant director of City Hall’s community and cultural services department, which is overseeing the project. According to the current report, there are presently 162 parking spaces on the site, a far cry from the 374 spaces expected to be needed if facilities are in full use at the same time. To help accommodate traffic flow, the report recommends adding 100 additional parking spaces, for a total of 262\. The report said an additional 112 parking spaces won’t be needed if hours of operation are adjusted to reduce parking needs. Ginsberg said a chief concern City Hall addressed in the environmental impact report is ensuring safe access of vehicles to and from the site. In order to accomplish this, City Hall plans to request from Caltrans the additional traffic signal on the PCH. According to the report, if no signal were installed at the intersection of the PCH and Lot No. 10 — the primary vehicular access point — there may be serious adverse traffic effects on a motorway that is already often congested, officials said. The intersection was analyzed with the installation of one of two traffic configurations in mind, either a half-turn signal or a full-turn signal, according to the report. A half-turn signal would stop all southbound traffic while northbound left-turning vehicles enter the site and eastbound left turning vehicles exit. Such a half signal would entail the construction of a raised median divider to separate vehicles accelerating to the north away from the site and the unrelated northbound through traffic. This would be similar to the installation currently in place at PCH and Chautauqua Boulevard/Channel Road, according to the report. However, given the fact the lanes on the PCH are already at a sub-standard width, the report said it would not be possible to add a half-turn signal without widening the road. The report prefers placing a full-turn signal. This would stop north and southbound traffic while northbound left-turning lanes enter the site and eastbound left-turning lanes exit. A full signal would require new striping, signage, detectors and signal heads. However, it wouldn’t require the construction of a raised median divider to separate turning and through lanes or the road widening that would have to be associated with it, according to the report. One drawback to the creation of the full-turn signal is that it would make northbound exiting from access points just south of the intersection difficult. Frederick Fisher and Partners, the team’s design architect, is an internationally-recognized architecture firm based in West Los Angeles. The award-winning firm specializes in art-related design, historic building rehabilitation and residential work. Its projects include the restoration of the A. Quincy Jones Studio and adaptive reuse of the Santa Monica Bay Telephone Company Building for the headquarters for the Broad Art Foundation, among others. As of July 25, an “e-workshop” was available at 415pch.smgov.net. The e-workshop provides historical information on the site, background information on the revitalization project and an opportunity for community members to provide input on their vision for the site. Comments received will be forwarded to the design team. Barbara Stinchfield, director of community and cultural services, said the e-workshop is a relatively new element for city projects. It’s being used, in part, to help expedite the timetable to finish the project, as requested by the Annenberg Foundation. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/120305-03_01.jpg) refurbished Marion Davies Estate is scheduled to open in January 2009\. (Photo: File photo The) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 3, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/120305.pdf?ref=smdp.com)