The Federal Aviation Administration is declining to consider applications to install nearly two dozen cranes at the Los Angeles Rams’ proposed stadium site in Inglewood, Calif., suggesting the agency’s initial safety concerns about the siting of the venue so close to Los Angeles International Airport could remain a stumbling block and perhaps delay construction.
“We’re not going to evaluate any crane applications until our concerns with the overall project are resolved,” FAA spokesman Ian Gregor wrote in an email.
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Filings with the FAA indicate the Los Angeles Rams’ timetable requires starting stadium construction in Inglewood soon.
Photo by: AP IMAGES
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Applications to erect 19 cranes were filed with the FAA between Nov. 2 and Dec. 6 for work on the Hollywood Park location of the stadium, with the FAA noting on each one “the proposal has not yet been studied.” The federal agency 13 months ago concluded the stadium might be a hazard because it could interfere with radar at nearby LAX, and that finding has yet to be resolved.
The team and its developer, Wilson Meany, have long maintained that the stadium will open as scheduled for the 2019 season and that the FAA concern is manageable.
Gerard McCallum, a Wilson Meany project manager to whom the team refers FAA questions, did not reply for comment on questions about the cranes and the FAA response. Late last month, asked about the FAA and meeting the 2019 deadline, he replied in an email, “I really don’t have much to add at this point, our conversations with the FAA are ongoing and we fully expect for all items to be resolved. Also, we are fully mobilized to realize a Stadium opening date in 2019.”
Meeting that 2019 timetable appears to mean starting construction soon, based on a reading of the crane applications. The applications for two cranes detail a work schedule starting today, and a third on Friday. Most of the work schedules outlined in the applications start early next year, and run for as long as 27 1/2 months.
The team last month hosted a widely publicized groundbreaking. While the team can dig, under California law cities cannot issue building permits until FAA clearance is granted. California is the only state with such a statute.
A proposed permit to build a $95 million earthquake wall at the stadium site was filed with Inglewood on Nov. 3, but has not been issued by the city, according to a log of the November building permits on the municipality’s website.
A spokeswoman for Inglewood City Hall did not reply for comment on why the permit had not been granted, or whether it had and would appear in the December log later this month.
The developments occur as the San Diego Chargers are mulling an option to move to Inglewood, either as the Rams’ stadium partner or as a tenant. The Chargers lost out to the Rams in January this year when NFL owners voted for the Inglewood project over one in Carson, Calif., proposed by the Chargers and Oakland Raiders. At the time of the vote approving the Rams’ relocation from St. Louis, several owners said they had been told that the then two-month-old FAA notice of presumed hazard was a procedural issue.
Sarah Biser, a partner with Fox Rothschild who handles legal work for large construction projects, said the crane applications mean either the developer is highly confident the FAA will clear the project or is putting pressure on the agency to decide.
“The developer is moving ahead and may be forcing the FAA’s hand,” she said.
She noted that “the developer has sought approval … for a very tall crane — 319 [feet] high,” she said. “The coordinates in the document indicate that the location is pretty much in straight line with the runways at LAX.”
That crane is for work in the stadium, as are six others. Other cranes, four of which are 480 feet high, would be spread around the Hollywood Park site, where the Rams and their partners plan a large mixed-use development. The FAA applications note the name of the structure that some of those cranes would work on as “City of Champions.”
Seth Young, director of Ohio State University’s Center for Aviation Studies, concurred the team may be trying to press the issue by filing the crane applications. Otherwise, he added, “It’s pretty premature to be filing crane applications if you don’t have the permanent structure approved.”
The FAA’s concern with the site, which is 4 miles from the airport, could dissolve by 2020 with the agency’s scheduled phase-in of new satellite radar technology in airplanes and at airports.
Currently, radar relays between planes, beacons and control towers. The FAA is concerned the radar could bounce off the stadium roof and create false images of planes for air traffic control.
If the signal is coming from a satellite however, this issue is negated.
The team has an option to extend by a year its lease to play in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, said Joe Furin, the venue’s general manager. No discussions have occurred, he said. The team signed a lease to play its 2016, 2017 and 2018 seasons there.
Solving the radar issues with satellite technology would not solve all worries. Some, including former Department of Homeland Security head Tom Ridge, contend a stadium so close to LAX is an inviting terrorist target. Ridge consulted in the past with AEG, which wanted to build a downtown L.A. NFL stadium.
Even if the Rams were to delay by a year moving from the Coliseum, that carries risks if the implementation of satellite radar is delayed.
“It’s playing a game of chicken with the future,” Young said.
