Four East Valley Sites Proposed for New Schools

Despite some community outcry, 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 at district headquarters in Los Angeles, officials will recommend that the district conduct feasibility studies on the sites to relieve overcrowding in the East Valley.

The Los Angeles Board of Education is tentatively scheduled to vote on the sites next month. Board approval would not mean a school will be built, only that the district will study whether it is a feasible location.

One of the potential high school sites is a former Gemco department store at Van Nuys Boulevard and Beachy Avenue in Arleta.

The vacant, 12.6-acre parcel would not require taking homes, but neighbors contend that a high school would increase litter, noise, traffic and crime.

Bob Niccum, the district’s director of real estate and asset management, said community outcry partially caused the district to scrap plans for an elementary school in a North Hollywood neighborhood where some residents have lived since early 1940s. It would have required taking 44 homes and apartments and three businesses.

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

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

For another high school, the district recommends a struggling shopping center with about 30 businesses at Van Nuys Boulevard and Parthenia Street.