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While we had hoped Councilmember Bonin would hold MSMU to the same standard as Archer School and Brentwood School, he did not. Many of you received his email about the changes he required at the PLUM hearing Tuesday. Unfortunately, it is too little, too late. In an effort to give you the facts, please see our responses to Bonin's letter in red below or click here.
WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE
The final approval of the Project goes to City Council Friday, April 8, where it will be approved. As we determine the best course of action after this final approval, we ask you to consider that for six years BHA has tried to work with MSMU to implement reasonable conditions that other institutions have no problem following. Rather than negotiate, MSMU’s position has been that they would not consider an enrollment cap, they would not reduce vehicle trips below levels from four years ago, and they would never consider eliminating money-making events that do not include students or MSMU-affiliated guests such as a 12 week summer camp.
We still believe that MSMU students deserve a better gym for their use. We still believe that MSMU can build a new gym for the use of the students, faculty and staff of the Chalon Campus that also affords reasonable fire safety and traffic protections for the surrounding residential community. However, Mike Bonin approved the project even though he could not get MSMU to agree with those protections during multiple private communications he held with MSMU. Mike Bonin's letter makes clear that, like the City Planning Commission, he put the interests of MSMU before his constituents. This is unfortunate because we have publicly and repeatedly suggested a resolution that allows a gym for the students while still having reasonable protections for Bonin's constituents.
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MIKE BONIN'S 4-5-22 LETTER
(Our Notes in Red)
During my nine years on the Los Angeles City Council, I consistently heard from residents of Brentwood that their biggest concerns are fire safety and traffic congestion. That is why I have fought to restore and expand firefighting resources, and why I have secured tens of millions of dollars for fire protection in our area. It is why I have worked to ease congestion near the 405, created a new neighborhood shuttle, and insisted that new projects actually reduce their traffic impact.
It is through that lens that I considered Mount Saint Mary University’s application to build a new gym for its students [This “gym for its students” description of the application is inaccurate – the application includes (i) 12-week summer camp for non-students that is allowed to generate 236 vehicle trips per day, (ii) “Other Wellness/Sports Activities” that would allow rental events with 310 outside guest vehicle trips per day, (iii) “Club Sports” that would allow 310 outside guest vehicle trips per unlimited weekdays, (iv) Speaker Series that would allow 310 outside guest vehicle trips per each day of event], and why I am recommending the full City Council approve the project – with conditions that go above and beyond what the City Planning Commission recommended, that significantly reduce the school's traffic impact and address fire safety issues.
Let me address a few questions about the project, and explain the conditions I have imposed.
What is MSMU?
Mount Saint Mary’s University (MSMU) is a tremendous resource to Brentwood and to Los Angeles. Its historic Chalon Campus opened in 1929, meaning it predates most Brentwood residents, organizations and institutions. Hidden in the hills atop Bundy Canyon, “The Mount” has benefited generations of Angelenos. Ninety percent of the students are from Los Angeles County and nearly 65% from the city of LA. More than 60% of MSMU graduates go into healthcare and related fields such as social work. Half of the graduates continue to live and work in Southern California.
MSMU plays an important role in improving economic and social mobility. MSMU has the highest proportion of Pell Grant recipients of any institution of higher learning in Los Angeles County and one of the highest in the United States. Ninety-eight percent of the students receive financial aid, and a quarter of them come from families living below the federal poverty line. Eighty-three percent of enrolled students are women of color, and half are the first in their families to go to college.
What is the project?
The project in question is small. It is neither an expansion of the campus, nor does it have an impact on student enrollment [This statement of no impact on enrollment is inaccurate – approval of the project includes implicit approval of a 40% increase in enrollment, and it defies logic to ignore that the project is intended to make the school more attractive to college applicants]. The “Wellness Center” project will consist of the demolition of inadequate athletic facilities in order to provide a new gymnasium and outdoor pool area. The project has been drastically reduced in scope from its initial iteration to address many of the community's concerns in respect to traffic, construction impacts [Why did Mike Bonin insist on a condition imposing a firm construction time period on Archer School, but no such condition on MSMU?], fire & life safety, and impacts on the community.
What about the traffic?
Since taking office, I have asked any institution in Brentwood seeking discretionary approvals to adhere to my “Sunset Standard,” requiring the institution to actually reduce its traffic impact. Both the Brentwood School and the Archer School agreed to meet that standard as part of approved projects in recent years, and I have insisted that MSMU do the same. They have agreed to do so.
When MSMU representatives first approached me about the project in 2016, I told them about my Sunset Standard and the need to reduce traffic. The school jumped at that opportunity, and did not wait for project approval before they took significant steps to reduce traffic. Between 2016 and 2018, MSMU reduced its traffic impact by a whopping 21%! MSMU went from an average of 2,291 daily trips to an average of 1,813 daily trips.
I have asked them to do even more, and they have agreed. They will not only maintain the dramatic reduction in total daily trips they demonstrated in 2018, but they will also reduce trips during the peak-hour commute by an additional 3% – from 672 peak-hour trips to 490 peak-hour trips. That’s a reduction in peak hours trips by 27% from the 2016 baseline. They will keep numbers that low for at least five years [There is no explanation or justification for the vehicle trip caps of Archer and Brentwood schools lasting 20 years and MSMU lasting only 5 years, or is that because MSMU expects its enrollment will increase by 40% in 5 years] after the completion of the new gym.
What about fire safety?
LAFD thoroughly reviewed the design and operation of the proposed Wellness Center to ensure that the project employs adequate mitigation measures to reduce fire risk and establish a defensible space. The Fire Department insists that the best way to keep students, faculty and Bundy Canyon residents safe is for MSMU to adhere to a “shelter in place” as is common for many campuses, including Pepperdine University in Malibu. LAFD has indicated that MSMU’s building materials and design, coupled with the large defensible spaces on the Chalon campus, makes sheltering in place the preferred approach. While many lay people have offered suggestions, conditions, and different protocols, the City must and will follow the direction of the skilled, experienced firefighting professionals with the LAFD. [The City Planning Staff explained that if and when surrounding residents are told to evacuate, then MSMU occupants and guests will shelter in place – an admission that the roads can’t handle the concurrent safe evacuation of both students and residents in the neighborhood. This plan ignores the human instinct to flee danger. LAFD plans to send “a few engines” to MSMU to maintain calm – a diversion of resources that possibly led to the complete destruction of 10 homes on the other side of Bundy Canyon in the Getty Fire in 2019]
MSMU has a Chalon Wildfire Emergency Plan, developed with the Los Angeles Fire Department. It requires: campus security on campus 24/7 to manage campus response; trained professional residence life staff on campus 24/7 whenever residence halls are occupied; emergency preparedness and response training and education, including specific training for the residential population; and communication during an emergency through a campus emergency alert text system.
Additionally, at my urging, MSMU has agreed to annually review its Wildfire Emergency Response Plan with the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) for concurrence and incorporate any new input from LAFD as appropriate. MSMU shall also provide an After Action Report to LAFD and Council District 11 following any wildfire event impacting the campus.
Has the project changed since it was first proposed?
The project has changed a lot since MSMU first proposed it. [Every developer seeking discretionary approval for a project, where it anticipates pushback, asks for much more than it needs or expects to get. It’s naïve to take credit for a basic negotiating tactic and call it a concession.] The original proposal called for a 38,000 square foot building that included a new, two-story parking structure. The project overall would have required over 20,500 cubic yards of soil to be graded, which raised significant concerns over its potential impact on the environment and the community. Additionally, the project proposed 56 events year-round, which would have had regular traffic impacts on our local streets.
MSMU made some significant changes prior to the City Planning Commission hearing on October 21, 2021 to improve the project and mitigate some of the most significant impacts to the community. The Wellness Pavilion has been reduced in size to 35,500 square feet and the two-story parking garage has been completely eliminated. These changes have cut in half the amount of grading that will occur to greatly reduce hauling trips and the construction impacts on air quality and traffic. Additionally, MSMU reduced the number of proposed events at the Wellness Center by nearly two thirds - from 56 events to 20 events per year. The proposed events that are permitted will no longer occur during peak rush hour in the morning or evening. [These events, 12 of which would occur for non-MSMU affiliated guests, would still bring an increase in traffic to the area. The effect will be to extend rush hour traffic as more cars are on the road before 3:00pm or after 7:00pm.] Moreover, MSMU committed to require all staff, students, and visitors to park onsite. There will be no pedestrian entry to campus to discourage any students, faculty, staff, and visitors from parking in the surrounding neighborhood. This means less traffic and safer residential, hillside streets.
All of that is in addition to the traffic and fire safety concessions addressed above.
How will this impact enrollment?
This project will not impact enrollment, and does nothing to authorize an increase in the number of students enrolled there. [That statement is inaccurate. As stated above, approval of the project includes implicit approval of a 40% increase in enrollment from current numbers, and it defies logic to ignore that the project is intended to make the school more attractive to college applicants. Further, since there is a valid legal position that enrollment is limited to approximately 1,100 students, the discussion in the record for this project implicitly permits the school to double its enrollment. Also, Mike Bonin is reneging on his statement in March 2021 that “their calculations were based on a very incorrect reading of how many students they get . . . their actual enrollment is 1500 and that’s where it’s going to stay”] Furthermore, the number of vehicle trips to the campus are limited, per the conditions of their approval, resulting in a net reduction of trips to the campus. [This net reduction is illusory and contrary to what Mike Bonin states above about complying with his “Sunset Standard.” When the five-year limit on this reduction expires, MSMU has no requirement or incentive to maintain this “reduction.”]
Today, the Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee approved the project, with the traffic and fire safety conditions mentioned above. The item will go before the full City Council on Friday. I am pleased that we are able to find a way for MSMU, one of Brentwood’s oldest institutions, to modernize and improve its athletic facilities while staying true to the Sunset Standard requiring a reduction in traffic impacts. The school is a tremendous resource to Los Angeles, and an opportunity for its students to prepare for professions that will allow them to achieve the financial security that all Angelenos deserve.
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