Officials to Study 4 New School Sites

Despite some community outcry, Los Angeles school officials said they plan to recommend four sites for new schools in the northeast San Fernando Valley that could include taking at least 85 homes and apartments as well as 30 businesses.

At a school board committee meeting today, Los Angeles Unified officials will recommend that the district conduct feasibility studies on the sites for two elementary schools and two high schools needed to relieve overcrowding in the East Valley.

The Los Angeles Board of Education is tentatively scheduled to vote on the four sites--including the controversial Gemco site in Arleta--in mid-September. Board approval would not mean a school will be built on the site, only that the district will study whether it’s a feasible location.

LAUSD officials tried to find sites that would displace as few homes as possible, but “some community members are still displeased,” said Bob Niccum, the district’s director of real estate and asset management.

Valley school board member David Tokofsky said he’s concerned that the district did not properly notify the affected communities about plans to build new schools. “This has been a persistent problem in the district,” he said. “The Arleta Looky Loos, I know, are not happy.”

The Looky Loos is a neighborhood group that for months has opposed the district’s preference for building a high school on the site of a former Gemco department store at Van Nuys Boulevard and Beachy Avenue.

The vacant 12.6-acre parcel of land would not require taking homes under the district’s power of eminent domain, but the Looky Loos believe a high school would increase litter, noise, traffic and crime.

“We do not think a high school at the Gemco site is good for the neighborhood,” said Harry Williams, Looky Loos president and longtime Arleta resident.

Niccum said community outcry partially caused the district to scrap its plans for building an elementary school in a North Hollywood neighborhood where some residents have lived since the early 1940s. It would have required taking 44 homes and apartments and three businesses.

Instead, to relieve crowding at Oxnard Street and Victory Boulevard elementary schools, the district will recommend a site on 4.1 acres at Tiara Street and Lankershim Boulevard. The district would take about 30 dwellings, the majority of which are apartments.

School board member Caprice Young praised the site because it sits next to an old police station that the city recently acquired for a community center to serve senior citizens primarily. She said she hopes the district and city can form a partnership, for example, by having senior citizens tutor the children.

“I think it’s a really exciting site,” Young said.

Another potential elementary school site--5.4 acres at Rayen Street and Burnet Avenue--includes vacant lots and six single-family homes.

For a high school, the district recommends a struggling shopping center with about 30 businesses at Van Nuys Boulevard and Parthenia Street. The 17.5-acre parcel also includes a residential area with 25 duplexes, or 50 dwellings. However, Niccum said, it’s possible that the district would build on just the business property.

Today’s meeting will begin at 2 p.m. at district headquarters, 450 N. Grand Ave. in downtown L.A.

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Proposed New School Sites

1. Rayen St. and Burnet Ave.

2. Van Nuys Blvd. and Parthenia St.

3. Van Nuys Blvd. and Beachy Ave.

4. Tiara St. and Lankershim Blvd.