Belmont Construction May Be Put on Hold

The long saga of environmental problems plaguing the Belmont Learning Complex is heading toward a dramatic turning point Tuesday when the Los Angeles Board of Education is expected to decide whether to temporarily halt construction of the downtown high school project.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials worked into the night Friday preparing a secret report on the possible consequences of suspending work until more is known about the cost and effectiveness of environmental safety measures.

A majority of the board, including all three members who took office this month, have said they would consider abandoning the $200-million project if they are not convinced that it is possible to eliminate virtually 100% of the danger posed by methane seeping from crude oil below the surface.

But several said they want to weigh the costs of mitigation with those of starting a new school from scratch. A temporary suspension would allow time for the district’s safety team to prepare a mitigation plan.

The safety team, created after the Belmont project was begun, has proposed measures such as a blower-driven vapor collection system to carry methane away from buildings where it could concentrate at explosive levels.

But it also has told the board it would have been better not to put a school on the former oil field at the corner of 1st Street and Beaudry Avenue west of downtown.

On Friday, the state Department of Toxic Substances Control notified the district that site studies performed by the safety team this spring are not complete. State officials said that more soil samples must be taken, and that several as-yet-unlocated former oil wells must be found.

As the discussion of a construction hiatus raised the possibility of litigation over the delays, a war of words broke out last week between the district and the developer, Temple Beaudry Partners.

The firm sent a warning letter to district Chief Administrative Officer David Koch on Thursday that said it would not bear the cost of any delays.

During negotiations, “the LAUSD acknowledged that it investigated the environmental and site conditions and that Temple Beaudry Partners shall not be responsible for delays associated with these conditions,” the letter said.

Underscoring its resolve, the district issued a demand letter asking the developer to present change orders for any costs it would incur during a two-month shutdown of the project beginning Aug. 1.

As the tension escalated Friday, district officials backed away from an earlier promise to release portions of a report given to the board last week estimating those costs.

Citing attorney-client privilege, district General Counsel Richard K. Mason said he would not release the financial estimates.

“The public’s interest is best protected by not giving your adversaries or opponents in litigation information they can use against you,” Mason said.

Mason said the district’s outside counsel was in daily contact with the developer, “trying to work our way through this as cooperatively as possible.”

A spokeswoman for Temple Beaudry said the developer’s estimate of the cost of a suspension was “in great flux” as negotiations moved forward on whether some work might continue even during a suspension.

Temple Beaudry Partners floated that idea as an apparent negotiating position in its letter to the district.

“The financial impacts to the Belmont project can be reduced using a suspension with a continuation of work that is consistent with the environmental concerns,” it said.

The company spokeswoman was not available Friday to clarify how that proposal differs from the current status.

When a study of the methane problem began this spring, Temple Beaudry Partners voluntarily suspended work on a library and a multipurpose building to allow sampling of underground soil. Crews have pressed ahead, however, on the main classroom buildings, which were already in place when the study began.

District staff plans to brief the board on all the week’s developments during a closed session scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The board has called a special public meeting for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday for an open airing and possible action on Belmont.

Board secretary Jefferson Crain said board rules allow seven people to speak on each side of the issue.

But because of the intense public interest in the Belmont project, the meeting is expected to draw a large crowd. Crain said the board could allow more speakers.

A growing chorus of Belmont critics have characterized the project as an environmental disaster that should be scrapped.

Belmont supporters say the 4,800-student campus is badly needed to provide classrooms for thousands of students who ride buses to other schools because there is no more room at the current Belmont High School.

If the board should choose to abandon the project, the district would then have to acquire land for a new school somewhere nearby, a daunting task in an old part of the city where vacant land is scarce and toxic pollution is prevalent.