From: Board of Directors, Friends of Sunset Park
Re: Final EIR for the SMC Facilities Master Plan 2010 Update

On Tuesday, August 3rd, the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees will review and vote on the Final EIR (Environmental Impact Review) for its Facilities Master Plan 2010 Update.

1. How will the plan impact residents?
a. Demolitions: The Master Plan 2010 Update includes plans to demolish the 3-story cement Corsair Stadium structure on 16th St., the dark green Liberal Arts classroom building on Pearl Street, the Letters and Science building, the Math Complex, the Library Village, the P.E. building, and the ESL building.

These demolition/construction projects will result in huge amounts of landfill waste, as well as concrete dust and other air pollutants, noise and vibrations from 50 diesel haul truck trips per day on Pearl and 16th (which is posted “No trucks over 3 tons”), and other short-term construction and long-term operational air quality impacts.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) wrote a June 4, 2010 comment re the Draft EIR stating that, “AQMD staff is concerned that the lead agency [SMC] failed to quantify localized air quality impacts from oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) emissions during project construction and operation.”

Corsair Stadium includes more than 600 feet of street-frontage along 16th Street and more than 200 feet of street frontage along Pearl Street. It is directly across the street from a residential neighborhood on 16th and across the street from John Adams Middle School on Pearl. According to the plan, “Primary access [to the new stadium] should be located at the corner of 16th Street and Pearl Street.”

Homes across 16th St. from SMC already suffered structural damage during the construction of the Swim Center. Imagine what residents’ lives will be like when the Corsair Stadium is demolished. And it’s not necessary.

A Corsair Stadium Seismic Study done in 2006, and summarized in Appendix D of the Final EIR, included “recommended retrofits to the existing stadium in order to upgrade to meet the life safety performance objective.”

What’s the alternative to demolition and reconstruction of Corsair Stadium? Remodel and retrofit!

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b. Destruction of trees: The Draft Master Plan 2010 Update, on p.23, describes the existing lawn and trees on Pearl St. in front of the Liberal Arts building as follows: “Liberal Arts Green – Lawn area with mature trees. Under-utilized passive space. This area currently lacks definition and is too large.”

The same document shows on pp. 72 and 74 that the new Replacement Math & Science xtension classroom building on Pearl St. (replacing the old green Liberal Arts building) will be built much closer to the sidewalk, resulting in the destruction of many mature trees, including a huge Moreton Bay Fig tree at the SW corner of the Liberal Arts building.

What’s the alternative to demolition and replacement of the Liberal Arts building and destruction of mature trees? Remodel and retrofit!

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c. Increased Traffic: Another concern is vehicular access to the 500-space underground parking structure currently under construction under the new Student Services/Administration building near Pico and 20th. As part of the 1998 Master Plan, these 500 parking spaces could result in up to 3,000 daily car trips, and the college plans to allow access not just from Pico Blvd. but also from Pearl St. west of 20th St. (where the street is narrow), from 20th Court (the alley just west of 20th St., behind homes), the east-west alley just north of Pearl (between residences), and the east-west alley just south of Pico (between an apartment building and the gas station).

What’s the alternative? Route car traffic from the parking structure under the new Student Services building onto Pico, not onto alleys behind homes and onto a narrow section of Pearl Street near an “F” intersection that’s used by 20,000 cars, dozens of buses, and hundreds of K-14 student pedestrians every day (Pearl and 20th).

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Conclusion: The FOSP Board of Directors urges the SMC Board of Trustees to (1) direct college staff to re-route the planned access to parking under the new Student Services building to Pico Blvd., and (2) consider the health and welfare of nearby families and school children and, therefore, choose to RETROFIT and REMODEL instead of continuing to tear down and replace every building on the main campus.

Retrofitting and remodeling would be the wise decision for a college that prides itself on its environmental audit, Sustainable Works, its recycling, its A.A. degree in Environmental Studies, its Project Manager for Sustainability, “Creating and maintaining a sustainable campus as one of SMC’s four primary Strategic Initiatives,” “Analysis of human activity and its impact on Earth’s natural environments,” and Student Learning Outcomes that include, “Through their experiences at SMC, students will take responsibility for their own impact on the Earth by living a sustainable and ethical life style.”

The SMC Trustees have a fiscal responsibility to be frugal stewards of Santa Monica’s and Malibu’s educational dollars, replacing only those structures that actually need replacement. It’s true that facilities bond money can only be spent on construction, but that should be necessary construction