New Site Is Proposed for High School

Seeking to end controversy over a new high school proposed on the former Gemco site in Arleta, state Sen. Richard Alarcon suggested Friday that school officials instead consider building the campus, as well as a middle and elementary school, on Department of Water and Power property in Sun Valley.

Neighbors who fear a high school would cause crime, traffic, noise and litter praised Alarcon’s proposal, while school officials said they remain highly interested in the Gemco lot but would discuss and evaluate the DWP site.

School officials also cautioned that the DWP site, near San Fernando Road and Sheldon Street, could have soil contaminants and require careful study.

In a letter to Vicky Castro, president of the Los Angeles Unified School District board, Alarcon (D-Sylmar) said the Gemco property isn’t the best site for the northeast Valley’s rising student population.

“There is significant community opposition to using the Gemco site for a high school,” Alarcon wrote, noting neighbors want a market built on the property.

Several neighbors agreed.

“It’s a lousy place for a high school,” said Harry Williams, 65, president of the neighborhood association near the Gemco lot at Beachy Avenue and Van Nuys Boulevard. “We hope a high school is built somewhere else. Maybe this DWP site will be good.”

Bob Niccum, director of real estate and asset management for Los Angeles Unified, said the 12.6-acre Gemco lot is ideal for relieving crowding at Monroe, Van Nuys and San Fernando high schools. He said the district would consider acquiring the land through eminent domain.

“We still like the Gemco lot, but we are open to looking at alternative sites,” Niccum said, declining to discuss Alarcon’s proposal in detail until he analyzes it.

Some school board members, including Castro, said Friday they have not seen Alarcon’s letter and couldn’t comment.

Niccum said the district is negotiating with Mexico City-based food retailer Grupo Gigante, which acquired the Gemco property in June with plans to build a supermarket.

Alarcon also said the Gemco site is too small, echoing criticisms from neighbors and some school administrators in the North Valley. With ample land for school facilities, Alarcon said the 200-acre DWP site, 1 1/2 miles from the Gemco property, could provide not only a high school, but cost-effective new elementary and middle schools.

At the Gemco site, Alarcon cautioned, “The school district may need to acquire adjoining homes in order to provide those facilities that cannot be constructed on the 12.6-acre site or to meet future needs of expansion.”

Niccum said the school district has no plans to acquire homes. He also said a high school on the Gemco lot would have several levels, underground parking and an athletic field. Serving 2,700 students, officials say the school could open in three to five years.

A small portion of the DWP property holds the old Valley Generating Station, a natural gas-powered plant that has not been used for more than three years. Some of the property may be surplus and available for the three schools, but a review has begun to determine the feasibility of Alarcon’s proposal, DWP General Manager S. David Freeman said.

The matter is complicated by the DWP’s plan to restart two of the power plant’s four generating units in June to generate electricity for sale on the newly deregulated electric utility market.

A DWP site, Niccum said, raises the possibility the land could be toxic. He said that was the case in East Hollywood, where a year and a half ago the district considered building a primary center on a DWP site that was contaminated with petroleum from gasoline tanks.

Niccum said a gas station once existed on a portion of the old Gemco site, and that the environmental study will determine whether the land is safe.

The Belmont Learning Center downtown faces an uncertain future because of belated questions about the possibility of toxic contamination on the property.

The DWP’s Freeman said he doesn’t know whether there would be a problem with the Sun Valley site. “Gas power plants are fairly clean,” he said.

Niccum, Freeman and Alarcon agreed the site would have to be certified as free of toxic materials before it could be used for schools.

Alarcon said in an interview he would prefer not to take the Gemco site off the tax rolls, and considers the property an important site for new job-creating businesses.

“If we build a school on the Gemco site, we lose the tax base,” Alarcon said.