Harvard-Westlake sports facility project unanimously approved by LA City Council

A beloved and affordable public golf and tennis club in Studio City will soon be demolished for a new sports facility for an elite private school. 

"I'm glad I got to be here before the demolition starts," said golfer Debra Evans. 

For 25 years, Evans has golfed at the nine-hole course at Weddington Golf and Tennis Club. However, her affordable par three will soon belong to Harvard-Westlake and its students after the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved its plan to turn the public green space into a massive sports facility. 

"It's an industrial lot-sized 'sportszilla.' It's huge!" community member Teri Austin said.

Austin and the nonprofit Save Weddington bitterly fought the Harvard-Westlake project, claiming that the city prioritized the wealthy families whose kids attend the $47,000 per year private school instead of the hundred thousand Angelenos per year who pay the $12 fee to putt around the course. 

Austin and her group still plan to fight the development through the court system. 

"It's the city who did not follow their own rules, and, we believe, improperly granted a conditional use permit based on an environmental study that was inadequate and insufficient," said Austin. "We're gonna prove it in court."

Councilmember Nithya Raman, who represents the district, stated she and her team are working to shift the project into something that "serves both the community and the school."

"I myself have a personal connection to it: my father plays tennis here there times a week," Raman wrote in a statement. 

She added that the city ensured the new site will include 5.5 acres of public greenspace and partial use of some of the amenities.