Approval Seen on School Site Work : Construction: The Montebello project has been plagued by false starts and a debate about safety at the lot, which is surrounded by industries.

There have been times when it seemed that the 15-acre dirt lot, selected four years ago by Montebello school officials as the site for a new school, would remain vacant.

The project has been plagued by false starts, delays and, most recently, a heated debate about safety at the site, which is near the large hazardous-material storage tanks of a paint company in a heavily industrialized section of southeast Commerce.

Also, more environmental impact reports are still in the works, and money to build the school depends on passage of a state bond issue in November.

But the Montebello Unified School District’s board this week is expected to authorize officials to clear and grade the site. The district eventually plans to build a new elementary and intermediate school there for 2,150 students from kindergarten through 8th grade.

“We’re finally ready to go ahead,” said Walter Popkin, the district’s assistant superintendent of administrative services.

The district, using its own money, initially plans to build an athletic field and a temporary high school annex of portable classrooms and trailers to house 600 to 900 students at overcrowded Bell Gardens High School, Popkin said.

In addition to Montebello, the district covers Bell Gardens and parts of Commerce, Pico Rivera and Monterey Park.

The district decided to move ahead after an engineering firm said in a preliminary report that soil at the site does not contain dangerous levels of contaminants, Popkin said. The report recommended further soil studies and an analysis of possible air contaminants.

More tests are being conducted, and final results should be available by August, Popkin said. District officials said they think that the final report will confirm that the site is acceptable.

“What we are saying is that as of right now we are occupying a safe site,” Popkin said. “We believe it’s going to be OK, but if it’s not, for whatever reason, we won’t put the kids there.”

Chuck Norton, principal of Bell Gardens High School, said his staff, which voiced the first concerns about toxic contamination, appears to be satisfied with the preliminary results but still wants to see the final report.

The district had originally planned to build a new high school on the site, receiving approval of state education officials in 1986 after almost two years of talks.

But complications developed. Owners of the site decided they did not want to sell. The district was forced to condemn the land, which boosted the price to nearly $11 million--$3 million more than the state had planned.

Then teachers raised concerns that the site, which is surrounded by industries that use hazardous materials, might be contaminated.

And last year some high school principals and board members began to question whether a new high school was needed at all. Some officials argued that the money should be spent to fix up existing high schools, some of which have buildings about 60 years old and falling apart.

After five months of debate, the district decided to drop plans for a new high school, using the state money instead to build a new elementary and intermediate school on the site and to expand the three existing high schools.

Both intermediate schools in Bell Gardens are overcrowded, with about 2,000 students each, and the elementary schools have more than 1,000 students.

If the bond issue passes, Popkin said, the high school expansion projects and the construction of the new elementary-intermediate school would begin in February, 1991. The new school is expected to be completed in July, 1992.

The temporary school, which will be called Bell Gardens High School East Annex, is scheduled to be ready in January, said Wesley Andersen, the director of facility development, who had the idea of building a temporary school.

To accommodate about 3,000 Bell Gardens High School students until then, the district will have to place about 16 portable trailers on several parts of campus, including the student parking lot, Andersen said.

Norton, Bell Gardens High’s principal, said he is confident that the students will adapt quickly. “It’s been a long, tortuous path,” he said. “We’re still overcrowded, and we could certainly stand some relief, but the students have functioned beautifully. . . . They’ll take it in stride.”

NEXT STEP The Montebello Unified School District is expected to approve the plans later this month for a temporary high school annex on a 15-acre site in Commerce to help relieve overcrowding at Bell Gardens High School. If voters approve a state bond issue in November, the district plans to build an elementary and intermediate school at the site, and to rehabilitate the district’s three aging, overcrowded high schools.