PC RES 2003-051A RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE
CITY OF RANCHO PALOS VERDES FORWARDING TO THE
BOARD OF THE LOS ANGELES UNIFIED SCHOOL
DISTRICT A FINDING THAT THE PLACEMENT OF FOUR (4)
ADDITIONAL PORTABLE CLASSROOM BUILDINGS
CONTAINING SEVEN (7) CLASSROOMS AT DODSON
MIDDLE SCHOOL, LOCATED AT 28014 MONTEREINA
DRIVE, IS INCONSISTENT WITH THE GOALS AND
POLICIES OF THE RANCHO PALOS VERDES GENERAL
PLAN
WHEREAS, on or before May 2, 2003, the requestor, the Los Angeles Unified
School District (LAUSD), placed or authorized the placement of additional portable
classroom buildings at Rudecinda Sepulveda Dodson Middle School, located along
Monterema Drive and Avenida Aprenda in the Rolling Hills Riviera community; and,
WHEREAS, Section 65402(c) of the California Government Code requires that a
local agency such as LAUSD shall not construct or authorize a public building or structure
in any city, if such city has adopted a general plan and such general plan is applicable
thereto, until the location, purpose and extent of such public building or structure have been
submitted to and reported upon by the planning agency having jurisdiction, as to conformity
with said adopted general plan; and,
WHEREAS, on September 25, 2003, LAUSD submitted an after -the -fact request for
a General Plan consistency finding for the additional portable classroom buildings at
Dodson Middle School; and,
WHEREAS, pursuant to the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act,
Public Resources Code Sections 21000 et. seq. ("CEQA"), the State's CEQA Guidelines,
California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Section 15000 et. seq., the City's Local CEQA
Guidelines, and Government Code Section 65962.5(f) (Hazardous Waste and Substances
Statement), the City of Rancho Palos Verdes reviewed the request and determined that the
proposed request would not have a significant impact on the environment and has,
therefore, been determined to be categorically exempt (Class 14, Section 15314), and,
WHEREAS, the Planning Commission conducted a hearing on October 28, 2003,
within forty (40) days of the date the request was submitted by LAUSD, at which time all
interested parties were given an opportunity to be heard and present evidence
NOW, THEREFORE, THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF RANCHO
PALOS VERDES DOES HEREBY FIND, DETERMINE AND RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS
Section 1: The Rancho Palos Verdes Planning Commission hereby finds as
follows with respect to the location, purpose and extent of the four (4) additional portable
classroom buildings at Dodson Middle School:
A The location of the additional portable classrooms is inconsistent with the Rancho
Palos Verdes General Plan. Three (3) of the buildings encroach upon the 25 -foot
setback required by the City's `I' (Institutional) zoning district. In addition, General
Plan Institutional Activity Policy No. 1 requires the "[location of] schools on or near
major artenals, buffered from residential uses, and [providing] adequate parking and
automobile access." Although the campus is already surrounded by residential
uses, the placement of these three (3) classroom buildings along Avenida Aprenda
does not provide sufficient visual buffering from nearby residences. Also, General
Plan Noise Policy No. 1 states that it is the City's policy to "[mitigate] impacts
generated by steady-state noise intrusion (e.g., land strip buffers, landscaping, site
design)." The location of the three (3) buildings along Avenida Aprenda does not
provide adequate buffers to mitigate steady-state noise impacts, such as those
generated by air conditioning equipment.
B. The purpose of the additional portable classrooms is consistent with the Rancho
Palos Verdes General Plan. The additional classrooms are needed to increase the
capacity of the campus to meet demand resulting from growth within the attendance
area for Dodson Middle School. The placement of additional classrooms on the site
is consistent with the existing use of the property as a public middle school, which is,
in turn, consistent with the Institutional land use designation of the General Plan
C. The extent of the additional portable classrooms is inconsistent with the Rancho
Palos Verdes General Plan. The additional portable classroom buildings at Dodson
Middle School encompass seven (7) classrooms and an overall increase in school
capacity of one hundred eighty-one (181) students. Combined with the additional
classroom building added to the site in 1998, the capacity of the Dodson campus
has expanded by nine (9) classrooms and two hundred thirty-nine (239) students in
the past five (5) years. During this same period, the City has occasionally received
complaints from the surrounding Rolling HMIs Riviera community about noise, traffic
congestion and trash allegedly originating from the Dodson campus. General Plan
Institutional Activity Policy No. 3 calls upon the City to "[continue] to work closely
with the School District in coordinating planning and programming." Unfortunately,
LAUSD has twice failed to advise the City of its plans to add portable classroom
buildings to the Dodson campus prior to their installation. The City is concerned that
LAUSD may continue to expand the capacity of the Dodson campus without
sufficient regard to the cumulative impacts upon the surrounding neighborhood, nor
with any advance notification to the City as mandated by Government Code Section
65402(c).
P.C. Resolution No. 2003-51
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Section 2: Any interested person aggrieved by this decision or by any portion of
this decision may appeal to the City Council Pursuant to Section 17 80 070 of the Rancho
Palos Verdes Municipal Code, -any such appeal must be filed with the City, in writing, and
with the appropriate appeal fee, no later than fifteen (15) days following October 28, 2003,
the date of the Planning Commission's final action
Section 3. For the foregoing reasons and based on the information and findings
included in the Staff Report, Minutes and all other records of the proceedings, which are
attached hereto and made a part thereof by reference, the Planning Commission hereby
forwards to the Board of the Los Angeles Unified School District a finding that the
placement of four (4) additional portable classroom buildings containing seven (7)
classrooms at Dodson Middle School, located at 28014 Montereina Drive, is inconsistent
with the goals and policies of the Rancho Palos Verdes General Plan
PASSED, APPROVED, AND ADOPTED this 28th day of October 2003, by the following
vote
AYES Vice Chairman Mueller, Commissioners Cartwright, Cote and
Duran Reed
NOES none
ABSTENTIONS Chairman Long and Commissioner Tomblin
ABSENT Commissioner Lyon
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Ei�fgw''cement; nd
Commission
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Vvf Chairman
Building, and Code
�cretary to the Planning
M:\Projects\ZON2003-00535 (IAUSD-Dodson Middle School, 28014 Montereina Dr)\20031028_Reso_PC.doc
PC Resolution No 2003- 51
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