Comment Sought on Report on 6 Police Academy Sites

The Los Angeles Police Department is soliciting comment on a draft environmental impact report on the six sites selected as finalists for a new police academy.

To acquaint the public with the sites, three of which are in northeast Los Angeles, the department is conducting inspections Saturday and Sunday.

Three sites in the San Fernando Valley will be shown Saturday:

* The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power property, San Fernando Road at the 5 Freeway, Sylmar, noon. (Meet at the gated entrance off San Fernando Road.)

* --Lower Los Angeles Reservoir Basin-East, Telfair Avenue and Lakeside Street, Sylmar, 1:30 p.m. (Meet at the gated entrance at the south end of Lakeside.)

* Olive View Medical Center, Olive View Drive at Bledsoe Street, Sylmar, 3 p.m. (Meet at the gated entrance off Bledsoe, north of the hospital.)

The three northeast Los Angeles sites will be shown Sunday:

* The current Police Training Academy, Elysian Park, noon. (Meet at the academy entrance on Academy Road.)

* The Southern Pacific Taylor Railroad Yard, Glassell Park, 1:30 p.m. (Meet at Division Street and San Fernando Road.)

* The former Franciscan Ceramics factory, Los Feliz Boulevard and Revere Avenue, Atwater Village, 3 p.m. (Meet at the gated entrance off Los Feliz Boulevard.)

Tours will be given at some of the sites, but restricted access at others will limit viewing to the perimeter.

A proposed master plan has been drawn for each site. Each plan includes classroom and conference areas, a 325-seat auditorium/community center, an outdoor athletic field, weight training and locker rooms, a combination library/language laboratory/learning center and parking for 1,000 cars.

The draft environmental report, released June 8, is available for public review at the Echo Park Branch Library, 515 N. Laveta Terrace, and the Atwater Village Branch Library, 3370 Glendale Blvd.

Community workshops and public hearings on the report will be held July 7 at Lawry’s California Center, 570 W. Avenue 26, Cypress Park, and July 9 at Mission Hills Inn, 10621 Sepulveda Blvd., Mission Hills. The workshops will begin at 6:30 p.m. and the public hearings at 7:30 p.m. both nights.

Written comments can be submitted through July 27 to Neil Drucker, environmental supervisor, Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering, 200 N. Spring St., Room 807, Los Angeles, 90021.

A final environmental report, recommending one of the sites, will be published in October, Drucker said.