Programs
Community Development
Programs
Redeveloping Former Jefferson Drill Site
About
In 2013, residents organized by Redeemer Community Partnership, began advocating for the closure of the Jefferson Drill Site at 1371 W. Jefferson Blvd. Residents demanded that the city extend the same protections to South LA as it had given wealthier, whiter, West LA neighborhoods 20-years earlier, namely enclosure of the facility and a mandate to use electric workover rigs instead of diesel. In 2018, residents succeeded. The city agreed to require the health and safety protections. The oil company appealed the decision and lost, then filed a lawsuit against the city. Working with our legal partners at Earthjustice we followed them to court, joining the City on the case. However, the oil company decided they would rather close than comply.
Following this victory, the community celebrated and then got to work. We knew that if the community did not shape a vision for the redevelopment of the drill site, the drive-by developers who are tearing down homes and building student housing would lay claim to the site. RCP facilitated a community visioning process where residents prioritized a community park, affordable housing, and a community center for the site's redevelopment. To realize this vision, RCP partnered with organizations like the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust (LANLT), a public park developer and operator. Working with our state assemblymember, Reggie Jones-Sawyer, RCP secured a $10 million grant to purchase the property while LANLT successfully negotiated site acquisition with the oil operator.
LANLT and RCP worked collaboratively on a grant application to California State Parks. Soon after the acquisition, LANLT received $5.8 million grant to build a park on the site. LANLT also obtained funding to plan site remediation with the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).
RCP then received funding from DTSC to keep the community informed throughout the remediation discovery and planning phase.
Join Us: Community Engagement Events
September 2025 - Community Meeting
Details to come!
April 2025 - Community Meeting
Community members and neighbors gathered at the former Jefferson drill site to hear how the community closed and acquired the site, learn about plans for a park, affordable housing, and community center, and hear current updates on the site's environmental remediation process from our Technical Assistant.
March 2025 - RCP Youth Site Visit
High schoolers from RCP's youth program visited the Jefferson site to learn about what environmental engineers do, how the site is being remediated in preparation for redevelopment, and got to ask questions to our Technical Assistant about site history and the soils testing taking place!
Site History
_pdf%20(1).png)
Through six collaborative charrettes, the community collaboratively shaped and refined the initial vision for the new park. This robust community engagement proved successful, securing a $6 million grant from California State Parks. Building on this momentum, the LANLT plans to host additional community meetings this summer to further evolve the park's design.
Three feet from bedroom windows
The Jefferson Drill Site was located just three feet away from the nearest home, with active oil wells operating as close as 60 feet away from residents’ bedroom windows. In 1964, Union Oil Company purchased eight residential parcels of land in the middle of an already developed neighborhood. They demolished the homes in 1964 to make way for a drill site housing 36 wells.
Neighbors often reported smelling noxious fumes, disruptive and loud noises, and intense vibrations from the site's operations. The site also uses thousands of gallons of toxic, corrosive chemicals that are also carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting chemicals.
Exposure to chemicals used in oil drilling operations leave families susceptible to symptoms ranging from nausea, headaches, nosebleeds, asthma and other respiratory illness, and increased risk of damage to the reproductive system, cancer, and cardiovascular disease.
Community Action
In 2014, Redeemer Community Partnership mobilized at City Hall to speak against the site's request to expand the site to have even more wells. After the strong outpouring of community opposition, the operators withdrew the application.
In the summer of 2016, RCP submitted a Nuisance Abatement Petition on the Jefferson Drill Site and mobilized nearly 100 residents to give hours of public testimony in January 2017. We called on the City to give the residents of South LA equal protections that had long been afforded to communities in wealthier, West LA.
Victory!
In October 2017, the City strengthened the Jefferson Drill Site's conditional use permit, requiring the installation of a 45-ft perimeter wall, air and noise monitoring, state-of-the-art fire suppression system, and many other protections.
In January 2018, the oil company appealed the decision and lost. In April, the operators then sued the City to avoid compliance with the new protections. Working with a wonderful legal team from Earthjustice, Redeemer Community Partnership petitioned the court to join the lawsuit in July to better advocate for the community in the court’s determination. The judge postponed a decision for several months but informed the parties that he was favorably inclined to grant Redeemer’s request. In the intervening time, the oil operator asked to stay the case in exchange for filing a Plan Approval to close and clean-up the drill site!
Forcing the closure and clean-up of an active oil drilling site was unprecedented victory for the community. In November of 2018, we gathered at City Hall once more to advocate for a closure process that would protect the health and safety of adjacent neighbors.
​
In May 2019, the City's Zoning Administration issued a determination requiring the Jefferson Drill Site to close and cleanup within 36 months!
Jesus says, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt. 17:20).
It is little wonder that an oil company named Sentinel Peak is moving out of our neighborhood.
Envisioning a New Future
We have begun envisioning workshops with the community to identify what would be the best-fit, beneficial land use to take the place of a toxic drill site. It is a 1.75 acre piece of land with a lot of potential. In our first workshop, community members showed strong consensus for creating park space, a community center, and affordable housing.
Resources
Many thanks to our funders who make this work possible.
