Overcrowded Montebello District Looks at 7 More Sites for New Schools

The Montebello Unified School District is considering seven additional sites for new schools, including what is now a chiropractic school in Pico Rivera and property targeted for senior citizen housing by Bell Gardens.

A report recently submitted to the Board of Education increased to 20 the number of sites under consideration for three new schools the crowded district hopes to build in the next five to seven years, said district business manager Stephen L. Phillips.

The Board of Education is slowly moving ahead with the site-selection process, which could bring protests from area cities, residents and businessmen. Because the district is densely developed, the Board of Education is considering industrial and residential property it could acquire--through eminent domain, if necessary--for the schools.

“You’re not going to find agricultural land or unused land,” Phillips said.

Big Decision

The big decision confronting district officials is whether to avoid acquiring residential property at the expense of developed commercial or industrial sites.

Of the 20 sites, six contain or may be expanded to contain residential property, Phillips said. A dozen are being used for industrial, commercial or school purposes, and five are in various stages of development. (See map page 6.)

The seven new sites include a 2.4-acre site that is home to the Pasadena College of Chiropractic in Pico Rivera.

College President Arthur J. Garrow said he was unaware that the college had been picked as a potential school site. The 180-student college has been on Beverly Road in Pico Rivera for a little more than two years. “It would not be convenient for us to have to move,” he said. “Have you ever moved a campus?”

Housing for Seniors

Another of the sites is a 10- to 13-acre parcel south of Gage and Greenwood avenues in Commerce and Bell Gardens. It would include 12 residential lots if all 13 acres are used. Bell Gardens is working with a private developer to build senior citizen housing on the site, which is home to a closed truck terminal.

The other sites include the district’s Vail High School, which could be expanded, and four largely industrial parcels.

Of the original 13 sites submitted in an April 1 report to the Board of Education, one has already provoked a good deal of concern from the City of Commerce and a Dallas-based developer.

Commerce owns the 35-acre site that is home to the former Uniroyal plant, a Santa Ana Freeway landmark built in 1929 to resemble an Assyrian castle. The city is negotiating a lease and development agreement with the Trammell Crow Co. of Dallas to convert the abandoned tire plant into a hotel-office complex.

Revenue Loss Seen

Ira Gwin, the city’s director of community development, said the city would lose hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in tax revenue if the site were used for a school. He also said the industrial area is unsuitable for a school.

“We think it’s taking a prime piece of industrial property off the tax rolls, and in the long run it’s not going to do the school district or the city any good,” he said.

Trammell Crow, which won a competitive bidding contest to develop the site, has tangled with the school district before.

In January, Montebello Unified condemned a 14-acre site upon which Trammell Crow had started building a large warehouse project. The site at the northeast corner of Gage and Garfield avenues is targeted for an elementary or intermediate school.

The two sides are negotiating the acquisition price.

Cites Benefits of Project

“This is a tough situation for us,” said spokesman Kevin Staley. “We’ve already had one of our other sites condemned, and we hope the school board will recognize some of the benefits that the project hopes to bring.”

Montebello school officials say the district is bursting at the seams and that there is enough classroom space only because portable buildings have been installed at each school.

The district, which serves portions of seven cities and two communities and includes 27 elementary, intermediate and high schools, has a student population of about 30,800. That is expected to increase to 33,700 pupils by the 1991-92 school year, according to district projections. The cities are Bell Gardens, Commerce, Downey, Montebello, Monterey Park, Pico Rivera and Rosemead. The district also serves South San Gabriel and East Los Angeles, two unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County.

Phillips said overcrowding has cut into playground and cafeteria space at many of the district’s schools.

“The reason the common facilities are overcrowded is because we keep putting portable classrooms on playground and grass areas,” he said.

Strong Opposition

The mention of buying or seizing residential property through eminent domain usually brings strong opposition from residents who fear inadequate relocation payments or who simply do not want to leave their neighborhoods.

Fewer owners must be dealt with when commercial or industrial property is targeted, but host cities--such as Commerce--complain about lost property and sales tax revenue, and lost jobs.

“I think (the board members) are open at this point,” Phillips said. “They have in the past indicated an aversion to (targeting)residential (property), but I don’t think their mind is totally blocked to that idea.”

The state has allocated $8.2 million to the school district to acquire the site on Gage and Garfield avenues from Trammell Crow. That school is to be completed in four to five years.

The state Department of Education also has tentatively approved allocating money for three more schools, including a high school.

Here is a list of 20 proposed school sites targeted in the Montebello Unified School District.

1. A 35-acre site at Telegraph Road and Hoefner Avenue in Commerce. The site of the abandoned Uniroyal tire plant, a Santa Ana Freeway landmark.

2. A 30-acre parcel of land that is currently being developed into an industrial complex south of 14th Street and Espanol Avenue in Montebello.

3. A 4-acre site at Telegraph Road and Maple Avenue in Montebello. The site of a former U.S. Steel foundry.

4. A 64-acre parcel west of Vail Avenue and north of Acco Street in Montebello. Once used as a landfill, two industrial complexes are being developed on the site.

5. A 5- to 8-acre parcel west of Garfield Avenue and north of Florence Place in Bell Gardens that is scheduled to be developed into a new U.S. Post Office. The site is mostly undeveloped but some residential property would be included if the entire eight acres were targeted.

6. An 8-acre residential area bound by Clara and Gallant streets and Ira and Gephart avenues in Bell Gardens.

7. A 19-acre residential area bound by Jaboneria Road, Colmar Avenue and Lubec and Loveland streets in Bell Gardens.

8. A 28-acre site south of Washington Boulevard between Greenwood and Maple avenues in Montebello that is home to several trucking operations.

9. An undefined parcel on the north side of Washington Boulevard between Greenwood and Maple avenues in Montebello that is the site of trucking operations.

10. A 12-acre site bordered by Clara Street, Eastern Avenue and Jaboneria Road in Bell Gardens. Largely a residential area with some commercial development.

11. A 12-acre site that is the St. Vincent’s Seminary in Montebello.

12. A 41-acre industrial area in Commerce bordered by the Long Beach Freeway, Randolph Street and Eastern Avenue to a point just north of 61st Street.

13. A 47-acre site on the northeast corner of Bandini Boulevard and Eastern Avenue north to the Santa Fe railroad tracks. The site in Commerce and Bell includes a Southern Pacific storage yard and some industrial developments.

Recently identified sites:

14. A 10- to 13-acre site south of Gage and Greenwood avenues in Commerce and Bell Gardens. The potential school site includes a former truck terminal and some residential property if all 13 acres are targeted.

15. A 2.4-acre site that is home to the Pasadena College of Chiropractic in Pico Rivera. A residential area could be included to add half an acre to the site.

16. A 36-acre industrial site south of Washington Boulevard between Maple and Vail avenues in Montebello.

17. A 36-acre industrial site north of Washington Boulevard between Maple and Vail avenues in Montebello.

18. Vail High School in Montebello. The site could be expanded to 24 acres if surrounding industrial property is targeted.

19. A 15-acre industrial site bound by Washington Boulevard and Acco Street and Yates and Vail avenues in Montebello and Commerce.

20. A 34-acre site south of Washington Boulevard and west of Vail Avenue. A trucking operation is on the site.