The future big-picture plans for one of Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District’s (SMMUSD) campuses are now clearer after the April 18 meeting of the district’s Board of Education.
During the meeting, the board approved of a resolution certifying the Grant Elementary School’s master plan, including the plan’s final environmental impact report and the decision to carry out the project. SMMUSD Chief Operations Officer Carey Upton presented the plan to the board alongside architect Jim Favaro of Johnson Favaro Architects, followed by an update on the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process by Placeworks representative Addie Farrell.
Upton noted that it has been a “long time” getting to the point of a final board approval after a Grant campus assessment was completed four years ago, with the approval and CEQA process completion the “last big hurdle” in the planning stages. The master plan is broken down into three phases, with the first phase including a renovation of the Grant library, a restoration of the campus central garden, and a renovation of early education space.
Favaro stated that the library, currently a smaller structure sitting behind the Grant auditorium, will commandeer adjacent “underutilized” spaces to expand into approximately 6,500 sq ft of library space. He added that the library “has to be sensitive to rapidly changing levels of development,” and will work with all age groups by incorporating early education learning and storytime space, as well as “upper elementary” reading and study spaces.
Early education is the sole focus of another Phase 1 project, transforming four existing classrooms into transitional kindergarten rooms with support space and an early education play and outdoor classroom space running adjacent to Pearl Street. Upton stated that the first phase projects are currently in design, and if a bond measure comes forward and passes for Grant in November, the transitional kindergarten space will begin construction in December, as student enrollment for the grade level is “growing faster than expected.” The library construction, Upton added, would be slated to begin in the summer of 2025.
Grant’s central garden includes trees that predated the school, with Favaro stating the restoration will be “modest but extremely sensitive” to that plantlife. The restored garden is tasked to be both a gathering space and a way to navigate the campus while respecting the historical trees, and is slated to include a reconfigured central lawn, ADA accessible paved paths and California native drought tolerant plant beds.
Also included in the master plan were the outlines for a second and third phase at Grant. The second phase incorporates a new one-story classroom building with a rooftop learning garden, serving as a bridge between the west and east sides of campus, as well as relocated and reconfigured parking lots and a relocated and reconfigured play field. The third phase, called the “most ambitious” part of the plan, adds a new two-story classroom building with 15 classrooms, as well as the conversion of the parking lot in front of the auditorium on Pearl Street into a cyclist and pedestrian arrival court.
Before the CEQA part of the presentation, Upton gave the floor to board members for comment, with board member Jon Kean stating that the latest plan is part of the district’s thinking of building around the “educational needs” of students, using an academic and social approach to give students more capability to “spread their wings.”
“I think the architect has already taken the perfect vision of the project and created something that’s more logical and workable for us … I can see that in this latest design,” Kean added.
Speaking on the CEQA process, Farrell noted that various environmental issues related to potential construction were broken down into several categories. Issues posing “no impact” or “less than significant impact” were not further discussed in the Grant final Environmental Impact Report (EIR), only leaving issues that have “less than significant” impact “with mitigation,” as well as “significant and unavoidable” impacts. The final EIR included mitigation efforts for issues like archaeological and paleontological resources, as well as the potential release of hazardous emissions during construction, such as the potential uncovering of lead-based paint or asbestos.
The one issue that had “significant and unavoidable” impacts was temporary construction noise, which may exceed City of Santa Monica thresholds of noise at certain times during construction. Mitigation efforts for the noise include community notification of construction, using the best available construction equipment, and the use of sound blankets and noise walls near sensitive receptors. Even with these mitigation plans in place, the district still had to release a “statement of overriding considerations” in order for the final EIR to be completed, an explanation of why the benefits of the construction outweigh the noise concerns.
Another change that was raised based on public comment of the drafted EIR was the number of parking spaces proposed, with the community outreach telling architects to encourage more cycling and pedestrian entrance points at Grant. In response, the Grant plan was modified to add plans for the cyclist and pedestrian arrival court. No additional issues were raised after the final EIR was released, leading to the board resolution to certify the Grant plan.