Opponents Not Backing Down After LA City Council Approves Harvard-Westlake’s New Athletics Complex

Opponents of a top private school’s plans to transform a Studio City golf course into a student athletics complex say despite a Los Angeles city council vote this week to support the project, their fight isn’t over.

Tuesday’s unanimous council vote gives the council’s blessing to Harvard-Westlake, which purchased the Weddington Golf and Tennis property in 2017 for $42 million as part of its plans to build sports fields, a running track, a gym, a swimming pool and tennis courts.

The seventh through 12th grade college preparatory school’s 17-acre River Park project has faced opposition from nearby residents concerned about traffic, noise and loss of open space accessible to the public (a nine-hole game of golf at Weddington currently costs $12 on weekdays and $15 on weekends).

So far, opponents have filed an ethics complaint against two of the nine members on the city’s planning commission. Caroline Choe and Samantha Millman both disclosed ahead of the vote that they were Harvard-Westlake alumni and said they consulted with the city attorney’s office. They have said their votes in support of the project were not compromised by their relationship with the school.

The ethics complaint alleges the two commissioners have each donated substantial sums of money to Harvard-Westlake over many years. Both were appointed to the planning commission by former L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, himself a Harvard-Westlake alumnus. Opponents of the project believe Choe and Millman should have recused themselves from the vote.

Studio City resident Teri Austin with the group Save Weddington said opponents are planning to sue the city over what she sees as a flawed environmental review process. She believes the city’s process has favored Harvard-Westlake from the start.

“[Harvard-Westlake] are doing this because of the uber-competition between expensive schools to get students,” Austin said. “They want the biggest, the best, most expensive. That's what this is about.”

During Tuesday’s council meeting, councilmember Nithya Raman — whose district includes the project site — described the process of getting to the vote as “long, fraught and frustrating.” Weddington’s previous owners said the property was no longer financially viable as a golf course, and the city failed to acquire it.

“I deeply empathize with people in the neighborhood who feel a palpable emotional connection to the golf and tennis facilities,” Raman said. “My team and I have done our best to honor that connection, to push the project in a direction that serves both the community and the school.”

Response from Harvard-Westlake

Harvard-Westlake has said it plans to preserve parts of the property adjacent to the L.A. River as publicly accessible open space. The school says it will also give outside clubs and teams access to the new sports facilities when they’re not in use by students.

In a statement following the vote, Harvard-Westlake president Rick Commons said, “We thank all of our supporters who took the time to speak in support of our plans to transform the Weddington property into an athletic facility and sustainable open space that will serve our students and the Studio City neighborhood.”

Harvard-Westlake was ranked the nation’s second best private high school in a 2023 post by school review website Niche. It charges $46,900 per year in tuition. The school has existing sports facilities including a gym, track and an Olympic-sized swimming pool, but the athletic director has said more facilities are needed to cater to all the students wanting to play sports.

Details from Tuesday’s meeting

Councilmember Paul Krekorian, whose former district boundaries included the site, said during Tuesday’s meeting that Harvard-Westlake has presented the best plan for the property moving forward.

“One speculative absentee developer after another wanted to come in and acquire this property and build high-density housing … which the neighborhood adamantly was opposed to,” Krekorian said. “We were successful in stopping one project after the other.”

During the meeting, a number of speakers expressed support for the school’s project during public comment. Some disclosed their relationship with Harvard-Westlake.

“[The River Park project] will be available to so many more people — children, teens, senior citizens and those with disabilities,” said Susan Welsh, the mother of two Harvard-Westlake students. “Neighbors who live in nearby apartments who don’t have backyards will have a place to play. River Park will be safe. Harvard-Westlake will provide security and maintenance and pay for all of it.”

But Austin said if the project moves forward, Studio City residents will lose treasured open space. In order to use facilities such as the gym and pool, according to the school’s description of the project, neighbors will have to be part of a pre-approved organization and reserve the spaces ahead of time.

“It's not public access,” Austin said of Harvard-Westlake’s plan. “This should have never gone through the way it has.”