Ruling Deals Blow to Coalition’s Bid to Halt Work on Library

A Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that a coalition attempting to keep historic Chester Place open to vehicular traffic must come up with a $200,000 bond by Friday to prevent Mount St. Mary’s College from beginning work on a library that would turn the street into a dead-end.

In a running battle that began in 1994, Mount St. Mary’s College, located just south of USC, wants to build a library and a classroom that would block traffic on Chester Place.

A coalition of neighborhood associations says it favors constructing a library for the school, but is opposed to the college’s plans for blocking off the street, which is on the California Register of Historic Places.

Although the college owns the private street, Chester Place, which is lined with 19th century homes converted into college buildings, has remained accessible to the surrounding neighborhoods. The library, which college officials say is desperately needed to replace its current smaller facility, would close the street to traffic, but allow for a pedestrian walkway.

“We have been for a new library since the beginning. But, we just want Chester Place to be retained as a historic street,” said Joan Frost, a spokeswoman for the North University Park Coalition.

Some residents say they feel that making Chester Place a dead-end is another attempt to seal the neighborhood from the attractive street.

“People who live around here feel the college is trying to wall itself off from the neighborhood,” said Susan Brandt-Hawley, a lawyer for the coalition.

Sister Kathleen Kelly, vice president of Mount St. Mary’s, says that the college backed off on a plan to block off the street to not only cars, but to pedestrians as well.

“We gave them an alternative, a compromise. I really don’t know what they want,” Kelly said. “The bottom line is we really need a new library.”