Report, response will be presented to City Council
By Daily Press staff
There are plenty more issues that need to be addressed with Santa Monica College’s satellite campus near the airport before any approvals are made or lawsuits are filed.
That’s why the Santa Monica College Board of Trustees will hold a special meeting to respond to a city of Santa Monica staff report concerning access to SMC’s new Airport Campus. The special board meeting will be followed by a closed session for the purpose of conferring with, and receiving advice from, legal counsel concerning whether to initiate litigation against the city.
The city staff report will be presented to the Santa Monica City Council at its meeting Tuesday, July 26, as will the SMC trustees’ response.
At issue could be whether or not SMC wants to be held accountable in any contractual agreement with City Hall regarding access issues to the satellite campus.
However, city staff is recommending that conditions be attached to SMC’s future plans for traffic access and parking. In its report, staff is recommending to extend the current temporary access agreement with SMC to facilitate the beginning of the 2005 semester, provided SMC identifies an alternative location for shuttle operations at the Airport Park parking lot that it currently leases for those attending the Bundy campus.
In addition, SMC must immediately begin discussions to identify traffic and parking management solutions for SMC operations citywide, the staff report said.
SMC’s new Airport Campus opened July 5 for the summer session. A total of 25 credit class sections and three non-credit courses are meeting at the west building at the Airport Campus through Aug. 11.
The four-story west building was renovated and designed by architect tBP of Los Angeles. The 64,000-square-foot facility currently houses the nursing program, education department, continuing and community education, as well as some general-education courses.
The west building includes 18 “wired” classrooms, conference rooms, computer labs, study areas, food service room, faculty and counselor offices, a small library, small bookstore, state-of-the-art nursing lab and more.
Besides the west building, the site also has a two-story parking structure that is currently vacant. It has 609 parking spaces, with the long-range master plan providing an additional 80 spaces. Students are currently parking at the shuttle lot on Airport Avenue, just north of the new Airport Campus.
SMC purchased the satellite campus at 3171 Bundy Dr. from BAE Systems in December 2001 for $30 million. Before renovating it, the college spent about $1 million on a number of site improvements, including the removal of a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing building, utility undergrounding, and a new sound wall and landscaping to provide a buffer between the site and the adjacent residential neighborhood. In addition, SMC closed the rear entrance from Stewart Avenue, which goes though a residential area.
SMC has been working closely with neighborhood organizations to develop the long-range master plan for the site, college officials say.
The special meeting will be held in the SMC Ilona Katz board boom, room 117 of the business building, 1900 Pico Blvd., on Monday, July 25, at 6:30 p.m.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 23, 2005. Read the original PDF.