A Real-Life Civics Lesson

Operators of one of the most prestigious private girls schools in Los Angeles have come up with a foolproof way to bring civics lessons alive for their students.

They have purchased a block of homes in elegant Hancock Park and sparked cries of outrage by announcing plans to demolish the houses to make room for a school parking lot, soccer field and swimming pool.

The move by the exclusive Marlborough School has divided residents in the enclave of stately 1920s-era mansions five miles west of downtown. And it is about to entangle city officials, who have been asked to settle the dispute.

The neighborhood’s city councilman, John Ferraro, is scheduled to meet tonight with opponents of the project. And school officials will meet next Thursday with city zoning officials in hopes of winning a conditional use permit needed for the development to proceed.

The college-preparatory school--which has spent $4 million to buy the homes--says the expansion plan is necessary to keep competitive in the thriving private-school business.

But opponents say the destruction of 13 homes in one of the city’s most dignified neighborhoods is unconscionable.

The dispute has been building for more than a decade--since Marlborough leaders first revealed that they had been quietly buying up homes in the 200 block of South Arden Boulevard, east of their campus.

Neighbors loudly objected in 1988 to a school proposal to convert eight of the homes into campus facilities, with their backyards forming a courtyard, and construct a new parking lot on the site of the headmaster’s residence on adjoining Rossmore Avenue.

That uproar caught school officials and students by surprise. Since its 1916 move from the Marlborough Hotel near downtown to a onetime barley field at what is now 3rd Street and Rossmore, the institution had enjoyed a cozy relationship with its wealthy neighbors--many of whom sent their daughters there, paying tuition that now stands at $14,600 a year.

But homeowners complained that the school violated years of trust by drawing up that first expansion plan without conferring with neighbors.

The 1988 furor cast a pall over Marlborough’s 100th anniversary celebration. Chastened school officials abandoned the expansion plan and pledged never to make that kind of public relations blunder again.

This time Marlborough administrators say they have candidly discussed their expansion needs and worked with homeowners each step of the way as the current development plan has been created.

As a result, students have spent the past two years listening to complaints about school traffic and campus noise and gripes about the deteriorating state of the Arden homes owned by the school.

Hancock Park itself has been split by the dispute.

Two rival homeowner groups with catchy acronyms have been formed. HOMES on ARDEN (Homeowners Opposing Marlborough’s Expansion Scopes on Annexing, Razing, Destroying Entire Neighborhoods) is opposed to the plan. VALUES on ARDEN (Very Appropriate Land Use, Education and Security) supports it.

“The tragic thing is it’s turned neighbor against neighbor. That’s the terrible part,” said homeowner Osvaldo Borgia, a furniture-finishing company owner who opposes demolishing the homes.

Another opponent, Daniel Gauci, said he does not want to look out his front door and see a school fence and--on the other side of that--swimming stadium bleachers full of cheering spectators.

“Destroying those homes will destroy the neighborhood,” said Gauci, a retired marble importer.

School supporters counter that steps would be taken to screen the bleachers from neighbors’ view and keep the noise level down.

“The school has been very helpful and very honest in listening to our concerns and working with us,” said backer Steve Heaney, an investment banker who lives on Arden. “It’s communication that has never existed before. It’s the beginning of building a good relationship with the school.”

Denise Gutches, Marlborough’s director of operations, said the school began purchasing the Arden dwellings in 1964 and now owns all but two of the 12 homes on the west side of the street between 2nd and 3rd streets. The owners of those two have indicated a willingness to eventually sell to the school, she said.

Gutches said the school has rented out its homes, although several sustained major structural damage in the 1994 earthquake and are unoccupied. The 13th home purchased by the school is on Rossmore, directly north of the campus.

Marlborough School head Barbara Wagner lives in one of the Arden homes targeted for demolition. She said she is convinced that most of those on the street support the school.

“We wouldn’t be going forward with this without their support,” she said.

Wagner said the new sports facilities are badly needed by the 530-girl school. Because of Title IX, which seeks to ensure gender equity in public and private education, colleges are putting greater emphasis on girls sports, she said.

“It’s essential for the school to remain competitive. We need increased athletic space. To be an effective college-preparatory school, we have to have those facilities,” she said.

A small, six-lane swimming pool is now wedged between classroom buildings. But students have to travel 45 minutes to Griffith Park for soccer games, she said.

Wagner said Marlborough officials have not considered moving to a larger site. The campus’ Mid-City location is important to its “commitment to diversity,” she said, and its 82-year Hancock Park presence adds to the “important feeling of permanence” for alumni and students.

As for opponents, they want city officials to require the school to prepare a formal environmental impact report that will analyze the effect of the demolition of the 13 homes and the construction of the new facilities. An informal “neighborhood impact report” prepared by the school suggests that the project would cause few problems.

If the school is allowed to proceed with the bulldozing, opponents want the city to look into requiring Marlborough to construct an underground parking garage beneath the new soccer field. They say that would help remedy a parking problem that often blocks residents’ driveways when school is in session.

Both sides plan to turn out in force for next Thursday’s zoning showdown.

For the Marlborough girls being invited to attend, the hearing shapes up to be a summer school government class like they’ve never seen before.

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Homes on the Line

Operators of Marlborough School want o demolish 13 homes to make room for a soccer field, a swimming pool, tennis courts and a new parking lot. The plan has outraged some Hancock Park neighbors.

Source: Marlborough School