Three anti-airport groups in Southern California have formed a new organization–Airport2Park–that seeks to turn part or all of Santa Monica Airport into a large park. Formed by the Community Against Santa Monica Airport Traffic, Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution and Sunset Park Anti-Airport, Airport2Park held a “community vision workshop” last week to promote its agenda. More than 150 people attended, including local anti-airport politicians Ted Lieu, a California state senator, and Los Angeles city council member Mike Bonin.

Airport2Park is hoping that the city of Santa Monica is right about its claim that it can close 2,000 feet of the nearly 5,000-foot-long runway at the airport after July 1, 2015. This is the date when the city’s 1984 agreement with the FAA expires and also when the lease for every airport business expires.

The group then hopes that, with no services at the airport, flight activity will drop so dramatically that at least the closed portion could be turned into a park. “Then it might be possible to close the entire airport and turn the whole runway and adjacent areas into parkland,” the group stated.