4/8/08 Pg 1 of 4
LAUSD White House Place Primary Center and the L.A. Eco-Village
LEED-Neighborhood Development Pilot Project:
Concept for a Joint Use Green Development:
Education, Housing, Jobs, Recreation, Sustainability
Purpose of this memo: Seeking support for an LAUSD-CRA Joint Use Green Development on current White House Place Primary Center site instead of a single use parking lot for 126 cars.
The mixed use joint green development concept for the WHPPC site would include the following:
1. Restore the Bimini Baths as a year round indoor pool that could be used by local schools during the day. See historical info on Bimini Baths at: http://urbansoil.net/wiki.cgi/Bimini_Baths_Article. Potential initial funding sources include the MWD, LADWP, Parks First Fund, Quimby funds, former users of the baths. Once established, the baths would be self funding.
2. “Carfree” workforce housing on upper levels of the Baths,
approximately 50 units. Housing would be targeted to LAUSD teachers and staff
who want to live more cooperatively and car free in the LAEV transit-rich
neighborhood, The site is within walking distance of about 12 public schools
attended by over 10,000 kids, as well as many private schools. The housing
would be pre-sold and/or pre-leased to qualified low to middle income buyers and
leaseholders which could be used to leverage significant financing. UTLA and
other pension funds may also be a piece of the funding puzzle along with prop 1C
and HOME funds. Cohousing could be an important innovation. See
www.cohousing.org For info on the car-free/car light movement, see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car-free_movement Green roof would also be
included.
3. Small green retail businesses along First Street and educational facilities (e.g., library). LAEV is currently incubating several small green businesses that are expected to be economically viable for retail/commercial spaces by the time such a project is built. These businesses will provide a number of green jobs for local walk-or-bike-to-work residents. Regular tours of the Bimini Baths and the LAEV neighborhood would be provided to the school communities as well as the general public. For info on the small green business movement, see http://www.livingeconomies.org/
4. Geothermal heating demonstration. Use the hot waters from the Baths to provide some geothermal heating/cooling to the development and the neighborhood, radically reducing carbon emissions from current natural gas and electricity, and demonstrating an important future energy source in the LA area. This could be used as part of an energy education program. For info on geothermal heating, see http://www1.eere.energy.gov/geothermal/overview.html
5. Demonstration biological living machine or eco machine that serves as a further educational facility--both beautiful and functional--to clean water for local re-use and/or clean hot waters and return to the aquifer. For info, see http://www.toddecological.com/ecomachines.html.
Projected square footage and costs:
Retail/Commercial 10,000 sq ft @ $250/sq. ft $ 2,500,000
Cohousing (50 units) 40,000 sq ft @ $300/sq. ft 12,000,000
Bimini Baths/geothermal 30,000 sq. ft @ $300/sq. ft. 9,000,000
And eco-living machine
Office, lockers, showers, etc.
Miscellaneous: 10,000 sq. ft @ $100/sq. ft. 1,000,000
Edible landscape, limited pkg.
for joint use vehicles, other __________
TOTAL PROJECTED COST AT 2008 $24,500,000
Historic Bimini Baths (1901 – 1951)
Photo shows Bimini Baths on Bimini at Second St. Currently Bresee, the Bimini Slough Ecology Park, and Mijoo Peace Church. Background in photo shows Bimini Slough, red car trolley tracks over the Slough, White House Pl four-plexes, and in lower left, the Rayfield apartments at Bimini and Second St. Photo can be expanded for more detail.
Archival photo circa 1920
Proposed:
Mixed Use Eco Development on current White House Place Primary Center property
Bimini Baths pool, small green businesses, café, library, workforce cohousing, geothermal heating, eco-living machine, edible landscape, many educational opportunities
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Overview of Current LAUSD Plans for White House Place Primary Center (WHPPC). LAUSD has responded to feedback from neighbors; with support from CD13, the CRA, and an international constituency for the L.A. Eco-Village; by selecting Site #11 north of First Street for the new Elementary School #20. However, the alternative recommended preferred site #11, while it does not condemn any housing, would re-purpose the WHPPC site as a parking lot for 126 cars when it is no longer needed as a school. The WHPPC site is about 1.25 acres, located just south of Virgil Middle School, one block east of Vermont, and surrounded by First St, Bimini Place and White House Place.
While converting WHPPC into a parking lot may appear to be an expedient choice that may reduce the cost of building ES#20, such a move falls short of the best use of this property for LAUSD and Los Angeles. Note that such a parking lot would be in a transit oriented district within walking distance of two subway stations and 20 Metro bus lines. Instead, LAUSD could provide leadership toward meeting pressing challenges. By partnering with the CRA and other appropriate organizations, LAUSD could create a revitalized Bimini Baths that integrates education, recreation, workforce housing, green jobs, and green infrastructure, a project worthy of world leadership for 21st Century Los Angeles.
Two important upcoming meetings where these decisions
will be made are:
1. Thursday, April 10 at 10 am in the LAUSD Board Room: LAUSD Board
Facilities Committee will be considering Site Option #11 for ES#20 for 800
kids, and Site Option #1 for a 126 car parking lot. Community representatives
will be at this meeting to support Facilities Staff recommendation of Site #11
as the “preferred” site for the new school. It is anticipated also that LAUSD
staff will be recommending Site #1 (WHPPC) for a 126 car parking lot when the
site is no longer needed as a school. Community representatives will oppose
this recommendation and advocate, instead, for a visionary joint use ecological
development on the WHPPC site, as described above.
2. Thursday, April 22 at 2 pm in the LAUSD Board Room: The full LAUSD Board will meet to vote on the recommendations that come out of the April 10th meeting. Again, community representatives intend to be present to advocate for the eco-development instead of the parking lot. It might be noted that April 22 is Earth Day and Car Free Day in Los Angeles.
Note, also, that the proposed parking lot is in the Los
Angeles Eco-Village (LAEV) which is a registered LEED-Neighborhood
Development (LEED-ND) pilot project with the U.S. Green Building Council.
This green development proposal will enhance the LEED-ND project, will meet
several LAUSD goals for innovative education programs, staff housing, and after
school enrichment opportunities. Concurrently, such a development will further
fulfill the Mayor’s goals for a greener, more sustainable Los Angeles while a
parking lot in a TOD will be a set back for the Mayor’s goals. The LEED-ND
project team believes there are design solutions to the school parking issue
that can be accommodated north of First Street. With three architects on the
LAEV LEED-ND project team, there is ample opportunity to work out parking design
solutions with the LAUSD architects working on ES#20.
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Recent Discussions
Lara Morrison, Lois Arkin and architect Suzy Sherod, members of the eight member
LAEV LEED-ND Project Team met with the Community Redevelopment Agency
representatives Michelle Banks-Ordone and Caroline Sim on Friday, 4/4. Project
team members were interested in exploring ways that LAUSD could pass the WHPPC
property through to the CRA when it is no longer needed for a school. CRA staff
indicated they have been meeting with LAUSD Facilities staff and planning staff
from CD13 to explore project possibilities in the Virgil/Beverly subregion of
the Wilshire Center/Koreatown Redevelopment Area, including the WHPPC site.
Although CRA staff indicated that the transfer of ownership of the property to the CRA is not a viable option at this time, there is a possibility of LAUSD extending a long term lease to the CRA in a way that could allow a project to be developed on the current WHPPC site on a 99 year lease with the caveat that the project include 126 parking spaces for the life of the lease. LEED-ND reps indicated that the parking issue might more effectively be resolved via a collaborative design charrette with all of the parking stakeholders in the immediate area. Resource persons working on innovative parking solutions that go beyond perceived physical space needs to neighborhood processes would participate.
Additionally, a meeting was held between LAUSD Joint Projects staff Paul Escala and LAEV LEED-ND project team members Lara Morrison and architect Ian McIlvaine on March 18. Paul was supportive of the mixed use eco development project being proposed for the WHPPC property and advised that further LAUSD support was needed on curriculum and workforce housing.
For further discussion of this concept, please contact:
Lois Arkin
213/738-1254
Or
Lara Morrison
213/383-8684
Affiliations:
Los Angeles Eco-Village – LEED-Neighborhood Development Project Team
Wilshire Center/Koreatown Community Advisory Committee
Beverly-Vermont Community Land Trust
CRSP Institute for Urban Ecovillages
Los Angeles Eco-Village Community
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Pg 4 of 4, 4/8/08, Eco-Development Concept for WHPPC