SANTA MONICA : College Preparing to Raze, Replace Quake-Damaged Science Building

The first step in the demolition of Santa Monica College’s earthquake-damaged science building neared completion this week as crews finished removing asbestos from inside the structure.

Work crews will begin razing the building once all hazardous materials are removed from the site, and after water and gas lines are relocated, said Lee White, project manager with Cleveland Wrecking Co.

The demolition work will probably begin in the first week of January and continue through the school’s winter session, Jan. 3 through Feb. 10. During March, White said, crews will fill in the hole that is now the basement of the science building, located west of 20th Street between Pearl Street and Pico Boulevard.

The 42-year-old science building sustained heavy damage in the Jan. 17 earthquake. After the temblor, Federal Emergency Management Agency officials inspected the structure and ordered the college to demolish it, declaring it unsafe.

FEMA will pick up the estimated $776,776 cost of the demolition, said Bruce Smith, the college’s public information officer. Construction of a new science building is scheduled to begin in January, 1996. College officials estimate that the project will cost $29 million, and FEMA has tentatively agreed to provide $21 million of the cost. The remaining $8 million will come from bond funds approved by voters in 1992, Smith said.

To reduce noise and dust from the demolition project, crews have erected an 18-by-400-foot chain-link fence along the east side of the site and will cover it with a fabric screen, said Nathaniel Trives, the college’s government relations officer. The area will also be hosed down daily, also to cut down on dust. Cranes and other heavy trucks used by the construction crews will be restricted to 20th Street, he added.

College officials, concerned about how the demolition project will affect local residents, recently sent out a newsletter to 5,400 Santa Monica households, inviting people to information meetings on the project.

The response fell well short of overwhelming. Said Smith: “No one showed up.”

Before the earthquake, Santa Monica College’s science building was used by about 2,000 students and 50 faculty members every day. The two-story building included six classrooms, 11 science labs, 25 faculty offices and a basement.

After the earthquake, the community college spent $2.5 million to build a complex of portable science classrooms, labs and faculty offices. The 37 mobile buildings, known as the “Science Village,” which sits on 50,000 square feet of space formerly used for tennis courts, has been in use since February.

A section of a parking lot next to the science building will be closed during the demolition project, said Smith; students and visitors to the campus may use a shuttle lot at Airport Avenue at the Santa Monica Airport. Smith said the lot has good lighting, and a shuttle runs from the lot to the campus every 15 minutes.

The shuttle schedule during the winter session is 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. During the spring semester, the shuttle runs from 6:45 a.m. to 10:20 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and until 1:30 p.m. on Fridays.