Contaminated Land May Be School Site

Despite extensive contamination of the land, the Los Angeles Board of Education on Monday authorized district officials to study a proposal to build a new high school on the site of the former Franciscan Ceramics manufacturing plant in Atwater.

District officials say they are so desperate for land for new schools that even a hazardous site is worth considering.

Over decades, the 45-acre Franciscan site was contaminated by dumping lead, zinc and other toxic materials from manufacturing ceramics. The problem was compounded in December, when large concentrations of cancer-causing asbestos were found. The asbestos deposits, which allegedly resulted from illegal demolition of buildings, were immediately covered with plastic sheeting and do not pose a threat to the neighborhood, according to state health officials.

Several Considered

The Atwater site--which would be made safe before any construction--is one of several “unusual new-wave locations” being considered by the school board, said Robert J. Niccum, district director of real estate. The parcel is believed to be the first known contaminated site to be considered for a school in the nation, he added.

Officials of the state Department of Health Services said last week that a proposed cleanup plan would make the site safe for any use, including a school.

“These days we are finding that almost any site we are considering is unusual in one way or another,” said Niccum, who explained that the district in recent years has faced growing opposition from homeowners and apartment dwellers who have successfully fought efforts to buy large numbers of homes for new school sites.

“In the last three or four years, we have had to change our thinking from looking at areas that are primarily residential to commercial and industrial properties,” Niccum said.

For example, the district is considering purchasing an ironworks in South Gate in order to build a school on adjacent property, Niccum said. A school could not otherwise be built at the site because the ironworks causes excessive air pollution.

The district also is considering purchasing for school construction the now-closed Ambassador Hotel on Wilshire Boulevard, a bus repair and maintenance facility owned by the Rapid Transit District in South-Central Los Angeles and a storage yard owned by the Department of Water and Power, also in the South-Central area.

Niccum said acquisition of the Franciscan property would be preferable to condemning hundreds of homes in some other area in order to obtain the amount of land needed to build a high school.

“We have looked at alternative high school sites for at least five years,” he said. “Virtually all of those sites involved somewhere in the order 200 or 300 homes. There is no way that we can put together the amount of land that we need.”

School officials are seeking the Franciscan site to relieve overcrowding at Belmont High School near downtown, considered one of the most crowded schools in the city.

Monday’s board action initiates an environmental study of the Franciscan property as a potential school site. Board member Rita Walters voiced the only opposition, saying that the site, which borders on Glendale, is too far away from the large student population, mainly in the mid-Wilshire area.

However, Board Member Jackie Goldberg said that if contamination of the site can be corrected, the vacant property would be ideal because it would give the district one of its largest high school campuses without displacing families.

“There isn’t a better solution,” she said.

Niccum said the district could complete a preliminary feasibility study on the Franciscan site within five months, about the time the contamination cleanup is expected to be completed by the property owner, the Schurgin Development Corp. of Los Angeles.

Schurgin, a leading developer of shopping centers, purchased the land in November and plans to build a $110-million shopping arcade with about 30 stores, including a major home improvement center, supermarket, restaurants, retail outlets and theaters.

Officials of Schurgin on Monday told the board they are not happy with the district’s proposal. Dale J. Goldsmith, an attorney representing Schurgin, said the developer expects to spend more than $15 million to clean up the property and already has more than $50 million invested in the project.

“Most people who go to that extent are not going to welcome a public agency with open arms,” Niccum said. “But we would expect to pay the full market price, including the cost of the cleanup,” he said.

The Franciscan factory has sat vacant for more than five years. Dilapidated and partly dismantled buildings on the property are surrounded by a chain-link fence posted with warning signs and patrolled by 24-hour security guards.