Los Angeles Unified School District, Master Services Agreement for Preparation of CEQA Documents

Aspen held multiple on-call environmental services contracts to assist the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the nation’s second largest school district, on one of the largest public works projects in the country – the planning and construction of more than 100 new schools and the expansion of dozens of existing schools to meet existing overcrowding conditions in the greater Los Angeles area schools. The school construction program that addressed existing overcrowding conditions within the LAUSD was referred to as Phase I. Phase II and future phases dealt with project student enrollment through the year 2020. As part of this ongoing services contract, Aspen prepared CEQA documentation, such as EIRs and IS/MNDs, for Primary Centers, Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, and High Schools throughout the eight planning areas of the LAUSD, which have a total student enrollment of over 800,000. The focus of many of the documents was assessment of impacts associated with air quality emissions, on-site hazards and hazardous materials, project-generated noise, land use and planning, and traffic and transportation. Major issues of concern usually included traffic and noise generated by school operation activities. Aspen’s CEQA review documents incorporated LAUSD design standards and measures employed to minimize environmental impacts. During the environmental review process for many of the school projects, Aspen coordinated with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to minimize project traffic impacts through mitigation options, including mitigation fees. Aspen’s second Master Services Agreement was awarded in February of 2004 with a $3 million budget for 3 option years.

In addition to environmental analysis of individual school projects, Aspen also prepared the Program EIR for Phases II, III, and IV of the LAUSD’s new school construction program intended to meet projected seat needs through the year 2020. Phases I through IV of the LAUSD School Construction Program represented the largest school facilities improvement project in the country, and were intended to create approximately 200,000 new seats by the year 2020 for schools within the LAUSD, which includes the City of Los Angeles and 27 contiguous jurisdictions.