Council mulls extending SMC’s beach lot shuttle use
CITY HALL — An agreement that would allow Santa Monica College’s Bundy campus to become more accessible to its students — and possibly increase traffic for surrounding neighbors — will be considered by elected officials this evening.
City staff is asking the Santa Monica City Council to consider a temporary tri-party agreement which, if approved, could increase student mobility to and from SMC’s Bundy campus. It may also increase traffic volume in surrounding neighborhoods, according to a staff report.
The City Council is set to discuss behind closed doors legal ramifications related to the proposed agreement.
Staff’s recommendation comes on the heels of recent meetings held between officials from City Hall, SMC and West Los Angeles which have resulted in an informal compromise to overcome a political gridlock which has prevented the college from having full use of its 10.4-acre campus, located across from Santa Monica Airport at 3171 S. Bundy Dr. Los Angeles 11th District Councilman Bill Rosendahl — whose jurisdiction includes neighborhoods close to the Bundy site — called a meeting on Friday, Oct. 28, during which the terms of the agreement were proposed. That meeting, attended by Mayor Pam O’ Connor and other city officials, resulted in a tentative agreement, the terms of which are to be considered this evening by the Santa Monica City Council before they are approved.
Rosendahl said he plans on speaking to the council during Tuesday’s meeting.
“What’s been driving these meetings and this agreement is student safety,” Rosendahl said. “We need to make sure what we’re doing isn’t hazardous for students and other motorists driving on Bundy.
“I’m very pleased that the city of Santa Monica has been willing to work on this.”
City councilmembers declined to comment on the legal aspects of the agreement which they are set to discuss behind closed doors.
The site has a 100,000-square-foot, four-story building housing classrooms intended for nursing, teaching and community education courses. In addition, Bundy has a 30,000-square foot, two-story building the college is not using, and a surface parking lot capable of holding 609 cars, which SMC officials said will meet the needs of expected campus operations.
However, vehicular access to Bundy is currently limited to college staff and the disabled. The satellite campus is buttressed against the city of Los Angeles to the east, with a small road that permits turning in and out of the site from Bundy Drive. The Bundy campus is also fronted by Los Angeles to the south and east — on the corner of which is Stewart Avenue, a north-south neighborhood street the college has agreed not to use for campus access, except in the case of emergencies.
Bundy is buttressed against the city of Santa Monica to the north, lined with commercial buildings City Hall leases, which separate the Bundy campus from Airport Avenue, a two-lane east-west road that leads to 23rd Street.
City Hall this summer prevented vehicular access onto the Bundy site from Santa Monica entry and exit points, in response to neighborhood complaints related to the college’s expansion plans. City officials have said that restriction will be indefinite unless other agreements are made.
Meanwhile, college officials contend their plans for Bundy have been scaled back to accommodate neighborhood concerns. College officials want vehicular access to the Bundy campus, at entry and exit points located within Santa Monica and West LA. to accommodate its students.
The agreement calls for Rosendahl to work with Los Angeles engineers to place a half-turn signal at the intersection of Bundy Drive and a driveway which is located on the southern portion of the satellite campus.
The half-turn signal would allow student vehicular traffic to flow into and out of the Bundy campus from the southeast corner of the site through the driveway, according to the staff report.
At the same time, City Hall has been asked to allow a right-turn-only exit from South Donald Douglas Loop onto Airport Avenue, both of which intersect on the northeast end of the Bundy campus.
City Hall’s concession would provide SMC students with vehicular access into and out of the north end of the campus and back to Bundy Drive. By making the intersection right-turn-only, it’s intended to reduce vehicular traffic further east on Airport Avenue, whereby SMC students may access neighborhood routes to the main campus at 1900 Pico Blvd.
SMC would agree to keep its gate to Stewart Avenue closed except in emergencies. Stewart Street is located among West LA homes.
Meanwhile, city staff will ask that the Airport parking lot, which Bundy campus students have used for parking this semester, be used through December as construction on the new Airport Park will permit.
SMC still needs a permanent shuttle lot for students to access its main campus, even as obstacles remain before the college has full access to its new satellite campus.
Until SMC finds a permanent shuttle lot, city staff is also asking the council to extend SMC’s use of Beach Parking Lot No. 5 as a shuttle site through the spring semester.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 8, 2005. Read the original PDF.