LA28, Santa Anita Park tree-removal plan contradicts games’ environmental promise, opponents argue

Opponents of a proposed equestrian cross country course at Santa Anita Park for the 2028 Olympics descended on a community meeting on Thursday, Aug. 27, questioning the games’ organizers and racetrack officials about claiming to be stewards of the environment while their proposed plan calls for the removal of 34 protected trees.

More than 150 people filled a third floor hall inside the Chandelier Room at Santa Anita Park to standing room only, where track and Olympic officials presented their proposal and took questions from passionate attendees, many of whom voiced displeasure with the trajectory of the project.

Los Angeles Turf Club, the park operator, in conjunction with LA28, submitted a permit application to the city requesting to remove 34 protected oak trees in a 17-acre section of the racetrack property where the cross country course is planned to be built.

The course would also encroach on 45 other oak trees. Throughout the evening, representatives from Santa Anita Park and LA28 reiterated that no final decision had been made and that changes to the project would be made all the way up until the games themselves begin in July 2028.

City of Arcadia officials, including Mayor Paul Cheng and City Manager Dominic Lazzaretto, attended the meeting.

“I will reassure everybody that no decision has been made at this point on this project,” Lazzaretto said. “We have an application that we are reviewing. The application can still change, so we encourage you to talk to Santa Anita, we encourage you to talk to LA28.”

He added that the city will be peer reviewing the arborist report submitted by the applicant for the proposal. City officials said earlier in the week that the permit application is an administrative process handled at the city staff level.

“I think what the residents and the community and San Gabriel Valley are saying is … Let’s take more time to make sure that we’re impacting as few trees or no trees as possible,” Cheng said.

During a more than 45-minute period that concluded the meeting, dozens of attendees took the microphone to question organizers or provide feedback about the project. Nearly all speakers opposed the project as presently planned.

Some, like Pasadena resident Tim Martinez, threatened to boycott attending the Olympics if the plan to remove trees moved forward.

“We lost over half the trees in Altadena, we lost thousands of trees and so we can’t afford to lose more,” Martinez said.

Questions covered alternative sites for the course, concerns about the surrounding neighborhood, impacts on the environment and the need for more transparency. Several questions were followed by raucous applause and cheers which reverberated around the hall.

Last year, LA28 released its impact and sustainability plan for the games. In the announcement, LA28’s vice president of sustainability said in a statement that the vision for the games was to “not only to minimize the environmental footprint of our operations, but to use the Games as a force to support the development of a more resilient Los Angeles.”

One person at Thursday’s meeting held a sign that read “Protect over Profit.”

Arcadia resident Sarah Rosenberg ran through the several different types of animals, including peacocks, the city’s official bird, that use the trees for their homes and whose habitat would be impacted even if the trees were replaced.

“Just like we don’t readily want to move, they don’t want to move either,” Rosenberg said of the animals. “They will die off, the species will become more limited.”

A panel of racetrack and LA28 representatives took turns answering questions with many of the responses met with skepticism from the audience and calls for more specifics. Chip Hazewski, one of the LA28 representatives in attendance, responded on a few occasions by saying that the LA28 was listening to the feedback and would be taking it into consideration.

After the meeting, LA28 officials did not take questions. Spokesperson Gabby Maarse referred to the organizers’ Wednesday, Aug. 26, statement.

“We are working closely with the City of Arcadia, Santa Anita Park and the International Federation to ensure community concerns are heard,” that statement read. “A decision on the best path forward for the Cross Country course for Olympic Equestrian Eventing has not yet been made.”

The evening opened with a presentation that explained the one-year process that led to the current course design with an emphasis placed on how previous versions of the course would have impacted even more trees than the current proposal.

Santa Anita Park will be hosting show jumping, eventing and dressage as part of the equestrian competition during the Olympics.

Ashlyn Moore, vice president of equestrian operations for Santa Anita Park owner Stronach Group’s 1/ST Racing, said Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI), the sport’s governing body, has mandated that all three equestrian disciplines be held at the same facility for the Olympics.

“This is a snapshot in time,” Moore said. “This is what the plan looks like today, but we will continue to refine the course as we build it, make live changes in the field to do everything we can to avoid the trees and the roots of those trees.”

Moore presented during the meeting about the course being used by Santa Anita Park long after the Olympics conclude, providing the track with additional equestrian competition opportunities.

“The residents of this community are very passionate about their surrounding spaces, about preserving their surrounding spaces, so we anticipated the turnout tonight,” Moore said. “I think it’s important for LA28, for FEI, for Santa Anita and 1/ST to hear their concerns, so we don’t take that lightly. We will do our best to listen and learn and do what we can.”