College Gets Funds but Traffic Issue Persists : Education: West Los Angeles College plans to build facility for highly regarded aviation program. But school must first reach pact with city officials.

After years of waiting, West Los Angeles College has almost all the necessary go-aheads for construction of an aerospace training center and gymnasium on its rolling 69-acre campus at the base of Baldwin Hills just outside Culver City.

State funding for the project, the second phase of the college’s long-stalled five-phase master development plan, is finally available after being filtered through layers of bureaucracy.

But unless the school can reach an agreement with Culver City over mitigation measures, the project may end up in court. Though the college is on unincorporated land outside the city limits, the only access to the school is via Culver City streets.

“Things have changed so much since the (environmental impact report) was certified in 1989,” said City Manager Jody Hall Esser. “We have an obligation to reasonably protect the residents in this community. We want to ensure that impacts from the build-out of the master plan are identified and work together to mitigate them.”

The two-year community college, one of nine in the Los Angeles Community College District, plans to bring its highly regarded aviation maintenance and aircraft electronics programs to the West Los Angeles campus in a new state-of-the-art facility.

The aviation program is currently housed in a cluster of aging bungalows by Los Angeles International Airport at 9700 S. Sepulveda Blvd.

The new center would allow 250 more students to attend the campus. The gymnasium would be used by current students.

Culver City officials say traffic conditions outlined in the environmental impact report are outdated due to population growth and an influx of new and proposed development nearby.

They have asked for an EIR update before, but their efforts were thwarted by three turnovers in the office of college president. But meetings with current president Evelyn Wong are making headway.

Because the cash-strapped college couldn’t afford a new traffic study for the second phase, Culver City agreed to pay for it. The study concluded that Phase II would overload the intersections of Overland Avenue and Jefferson Boulevard, and Jefferson Boulevard and Duquesne Avenue. It also estimated it would cost $340,000 to mitigate the impacts by adding left-turn lanes and a third eastbound lane.

Culver City asked the college to update the EIR traffic studies for Phases III through V.

West Los Angeles College officials don’t think that is necessary.

“Based on the advice that I have received, we completed the EIR process in 1989,” Wong said.

The two agencies are haggling over traffic mitigation measures, the EIR supplement and non-curricular use of the gymnasium.

But both sides say they are confident an agreement will be reached.

It took many years for state funds to finally filter down for Phase II of the project, Wong said. The phase is budgeted at $14 million.

“We could lose that funding if we don’t go forward,” she said.

The college expects to seek bids in December for construction slated to begin in spring.

Culver City threatened legal action unless the college updated its EIR when the college district board of trustees voted on a technical matter in August.

The board added an addendum to the EIR, changing the location of maintenance buildings displaced by the aerospace training center.

The Aug. 26 board action started a 30-day clock in which Culver City could file a lawsuit.

Because both sides want to reach an agreement, the board voted to extend the period by 60 days.

The college, established in 1969, was never fully completed due to declining enrollments, Proposition 13 and state budget cuts, said Paul Stansbury, vice president of administration.

Permanent buildings, resulting from Phase I of the development, are far outnumbered by temporary structures that house administration offices, arts and music programs and other departments, Stansbury said.

Although some funding for construction drawings for a Phase III fine arts building has been secured, funding for future phases is nowhere in sight.

The college currently enrolls 9,500 students. About half are black, 20% are white, 13% are Latino and 7% are Asian. The majority live in the Westside, but 22% are from South-Central and Southwest Los Angeles.

About 23% are full-time students.