After a fierce summer-long feud that City Hall and West Los Angeles College spent snarling at each other over a shattered compromise, the historic rivals once again have reached terms on the school’s grand construction plan, and the City Council will be asked to approve the lengthy document at tonight’s 7 o’clock meeting.
At least 16 separate points of agreement have been reached a little more than two weeks after Culver City filed a lawsuit that could have torpedoed the school’s imminent growth plans.
The lawsuit now has been rolled up and stuffed into somebody’s backpocket, or wherever stale food is stored, because the Council is expected to approve the document.
That is half of the deal.
One week from Wednesday, trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District, will make the agreement final if they do the same. No one in Culver City, however, is betting on the outcome of their vote.
Here are the dozen-plus categories covered in the preliminary agreement:
The Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Report, the College Boulevard Sound Wall, Overflow Parking, Development of 10100 Jefferson Blvd., a Plant Facilities site, Community Liaison, Special Events Liaison, Two Meetings a Year During Construction, Residential Use of College Campus Outdoor Recreational Facilities, Use of Indoor Recreational Facilities, Haul Road and Secondary Access Road, No Cut-Through Vehicular Traffic Via College Campus Streets, District Agrees to Perform Additional Traffic Impact Studies If Enrollment Reaches a Certain Level, On-Campus Student Parking Threshold, Construction Hours (8 to 6 weekdays, 9 to 4 Saturdays), Emergency and Limited Construction Activity Hours, New Studies for Buildings Begun After Dec. 31, 2013.
What turned around a rhetorical brawl that appeared blindly headed down a one-way street?
“I can’t really say because I was not part of the negotiations,” said Councilman Andy Weissman. “But I think it was a matter of everybody recognizing that it was important to all parties to figure out a way to get beyond the heat and get down to discussing the substance.
“I don’t know what sort of clouded everybody’s judgment before. I honestly don’t know whether the players were any different this time. Fundamentally, I don’t think they were.
“I think, though, they realized that a result achieved by agreement and consensus has got to be better than any deal forced upon the parties by a court.” See culvercity.org/agendas
