New Burbank Plan Involves Study of Traffic, Environmental Issues

Pasadena Unified officials presented an updated plan for Burbank Elementary Monday night that would require traffic and environmental studies before bringing in district offices that officials would like to relocate there.

The meeting was held Monday in anticipation of a PUSD board vote on approving the first phase of the plan at Tuesday night's meeting.

New Plan

The original plan, which we've written about , would have had construction and relocation of the new programs completed by this upcoming fall.

Under the new plan, a PUSD mental health program that is currently located at the McKinley campus in Pasadena, would be moved to the Burbank campus this summer, which would require some construction on campus.

The relocation of LAUP, a nonprofit special education preschool currently located at and of the Hodges Children Center preschool program would not be done before winter break of 2011.

And the use that would have the biggest impact--the relocation of a PUSD staff development program that is currently housed at the Edison campus--would be subject to a traffic analysis and environmental study, as it would require the expansion of parking lots on the campus and could also result in increased parking in the neighborhood.

Until that relocation happens, there should actually be less demand for parking in the neighborhood then there was when the current elementary school was in session, officials said at the meeting.  But the staff development program could mean more demand for parking overall on the streets, depending on how many new parking spaces the district builds on campus.

In the long term, called Phase 4, the district would also look at locating a new academic success program at the school, but there is no certainty on whether or not that will happen, officials said.

The earliest that would be done would also be winter of 2011, officials said, though it might take longer to get to it.

A Smaller Crowd

The meeting Monday, which took place at Burbank, was somewhat less adversarial and much more sparsesly attended then in the same spot two weeks earlier.

Those that were there expressed some concerns about the uncertainties of much of the plan: As in the last meeting, there were a lot of people worried about neighborhood traffic and parking and also about whether the conversion of the campus would mean that the district won't ever consider reopening a school on the site.

Details, Board Vote

David Azcarraga, the district's chief facilities officer, acknowledged that there are still a lot more details needed in parts of the plan, but said that the staff would need more input from the board before being able to work on the later phases of the plan.

"A lot will depend on the board’s reaction to the material presented at the board meeting tomorrow," Azcarraga said.

The board's vote on Tuesday night would be to authorize the relocation of the mental health center and to direct the staff to work towards the relocation of the pre-schools and the staff development program.  Before work on those later phases is begun, staff would likely bring the plan back to the board to authorize the later elements, he said.

The entire cost of the project is estimated at about $650,000, much greater than the $150,000 to $170,00 price tag in the original staff report.  Most of the money would come from Measure TT funds, according to officials.

Public Comments

Many of the audience members on Monday were focused on the traffic issues that already exist, and the new ones that could be introduced with the campus changes.  One resident of Minoru Drive, which is behind the campus, likened the street to a "freeway" and suggested that the street should require permit parking to keep it from being flooded with cars from school employees.

Another resident said that when people come to the school they double-park or block driveways and show "no consideration" for people who live in the neighborhood.

Others said they were still unhappy with the district's initial willingness to bring the plan to the PUSD board without notifying the public - the board voted on the original version of the plan May 24, but did not get sufficient votes to pass after some board members pointed out the lack of public involvement on the plan.

There were also some people who wanted to talk about the original decision to that was made months ago.

Editor's note: The original version of this article mistakenly read that the Pasadena Mental Health Center would be relocated to the Burbank campus.