Valley Retail Site Holds L.A. Unified’s Interest

Calling the property “golden,” Los Angeles school officials said Friday the Robinsons-May department store site is still being studied under a new school construction plan that calls for building 11 primary centers in the east San Fernando Valley.

Instead of using the 24.7-acre property on Laurel Canyon Boulevard for a high school to relieve overcrowding, Los Angeles Unified School District officials said they may need two to five acres for the primary centers’ kindergarten through third-grade students.

Officials are uncertain whether the department store would have to be razed to accommodate such a plan.

“Robinsons-May is a golden site,” said Caprice Young, the Los Angeles Board of Education member who represents the North Hollywood area. “We’re looking for a win-win proposal for the community, and we want businesses to prosper.”

The new plan could allow the successful store, which also houses corporate headquarters for the 56-store Robinsons-May division, to continue operations without relocating from Laurel Plaza, a shopping complex largely destroyed in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.

L.A. Unified officials added that they plan to scout the 55-acre retail district marketed by developers as Twin Plaza, an area that includes Laurel Plaza and the nearby Valley Plaza shopping center.

“We’re not overlooking anything,” said Gordon Wohlers, the L.A. Unified’s assistant superintendent for policy research and management. “We would need to build 11 schools in a small area.”

Robinsons-May officials Friday declined comment on the plan because they had not been contacted by school officials. But spokeswoman Milinda Martin said the St. Louis-based company wants to stay at its current site.

“If the school district is now looking for smaller areas, there are plenty around Laurel Plaza, which are less expensive and less disruptive to businesses,” Martin said.

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Developers hoping to revitalize Twin Plaza said they do not want any school construction in the retail corridor, which includes two major department stores and dozens of smaller businesses in the Laurel Plaza and Valley Plaza areas.

“It would disrupt economic activity in the East Valley,” developer Arthur Sweet said.

Sweet and other business leaders suggested that school officials consider alternative sites Robinsons-May recommended last month, such as the L.A. Unified-owned Sun Valley bus facility near Sherman Way and Tujunga Avenue.

District officials said they plan to issue a report in January on recommended East Valley school sites.

The campus construction plan for the East Valley--praised by school board members after its unveiling Thursday--proposes adding classroom space in a dense area where it is difficult to acquire parcels of 20 or more acres needed for traditional high schools.

The plan calls for converting two middle schools to grades nine through 12, officials said, while shifting seven elementary schools into campuses for students in grades four through eight. Two elementary schools would expand to kindergarten through eighth grade.

To accommodate the youngest students, three elementary schools would join the 11 new schools as primary centers.

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Conversion Plan

The Los Angeles Unified School District has proposed the following conversion plan for East Valley campuses:

Madison and Sun Valley middle schools become senior high schools.

Arminta Street, Camelia Avenue, Coldwater Canyon Avenue, Fair Avenue, Glenwood, Kittridge Street and Victory Boulevard elementary schools change to grades four to eight.

Monlux, Roscoe and Vinedale become kindergarten through grade three.

Oxnard Street and Saticoy elementary schools expand to kindergarten through eighth grade.

Erwin Street, Hazeltine Avenue and Strathern Street remain kindergarten through fifth grade.

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Source: L.A. Unified School District