HomeBlocksFront-GridTrees’ Fate Stirs Debate on Palm Crest School Project

Trees’ Fate Stirs Debate on Palm Crest School Project

First published in the March 31 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.

The nearly $30 million Palm Crest Elementary modernization project began the first phase of construction last year, but La Cañada Unified School District officials may be going back to the drawing board when it comes to the final stage of the project.
La Cañada Flintridge residents living near the school attended an LCUSD Governing Board meeting Tuesday and stated their objections to the district’s proposed parking lot and pickup and drop-off for the site and worried about the removal of a number of trees, which include a deodar and albizia.
The proposal includes a retaining wall along a slope separating the mixed-use area that will include 21 parking spaces, a 20-foot fire lane and a 10-foot pickup and drop-off lane. Construction of the wall would require the removal of trees, and Superintendent Wendy Sinnette assured that the district is doing what it can to preserve the surrounding scenery by adding more trees than they are removing.
“We’re very cognizant of where there are trees that can be saved that they will be saved and there will be attention to adding trees in that area where possible,” she told stakeholders at the meeting. “ … There has been a lot of mindfulness in terms of the trees that are being taken out. Trees will be placed to replace them and we do want this to resemble the community. We want to be park-like, we want it to fit with your homes and your neighborhood.”
Harold Pierre, the district’s program manager, said that they explored several options that would remove existing trees and replace them somewhere else but it wasn’t feasible.
“The problem is some of those trees are too big to transplant to another location,” he said. “They just would not survive the process.”
Lawrence Moss, a longtime resident and landscape architect who lives on Palm Drive near the elementary school, claims that the district is removing about $100,000 worth of trees and that they must be preserved.
“Don’t let the city of La Cañada influence you for trees because they don’t know anything about trees,” he said.
Other residents backed Moss and added that the removal of the current trees would make the area warmer for students and felt that the district should consider reducing parking spaces and keep the current drop-off location the same. The proposed design features 93 parking spaces, eight more than what are currently available.
Sinnette, who was a principal at Palm Crest from 2002–2006, said that there are safety concerns with the mixed-use area serving as a parking lot and pickup and drop-off site, having witnessed students walking between cars to get to their parents.
“You have parking in the same space as you have students being dropped off and picked up,” she said. “The parking lot is a safety hazard and we can’t have students and mixed use.”
Some community members present at the meeting said they were disappointed that the modernization project has advanced as far as it has without having received notification of the proposal regarding parking and the removal of trees.
Pierre responded by saying that the project has been discussed in previous meetings and that letters were not only mailed out but also delivered in person to nearby residents.
“We cared about the trees,” said board member Joe Radabaugh. “We heard what neighbors were saying, we tried to be good neighbors in this project overall. I think our actions have demonstrated we’ve really [gone to great lengths] to listen and accommodate [nearby residents].”
Dan Jeffries, governing board president, was appreciative of the feedback from stakeholders and said that district staff has time to “sit down, look at [the plan and suggestions], study it and come back” to present some new ideas because the parking lots are still in the design phase. Board member Josh Epstein agreed with Jeffries and added that it would be best for the district to move forward with more input from stakeholders.
Pierre was open to the idea of brainstorming but added that it will be difficult to please those who disagree with the project.
“I think one of the things that has to happen is a thought of what do we want to accomplish there because you can’t do all of it,” he said. “You can only do so much. … The original goal for this was we want to improve the drop-off and we want to create more parking spaces, so I’m hearing we can live with less parking spaces. If that is the goal of the project, that changes the makeup of the project.”
District staff will continue to work with the community and bring the item back to the Governing Board at a future meeting.

TWO ADMINISTRATORS TO LEAVE LCUSD
La Cañada Unified announced that Mark Evans and Amy Marcoullier would be leaving the district later this year.
Evans has served as LCUSD’s associate superintendent of business and administrative services for nearly eight years and accepted a similar position with the Oak Grove School District. He was the lead negotiator for the district when working with employee unions and was instrumental in the passage of bond Measure LCF and the parcel tax Measure LC, which has allowed LCUSD to finance construction projects at school sites, including the PCR modernization.
Marcoullier will be leaving the district after five years with LCUSD, having worked as an assistant principal at PCR and La Cañada High School, citing a desire for more time and flexibility at home with her two younger children.
The district released a statement saying that job listings for both positions will be posted immediately.
“We will miss both of our colleagues immensely, but look to the future with optimism and determination to bring excellent administrative new hires to the LCUSD team,” Sinnette said.

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