HBCSD Corruption
Lie #8
Claiming that renovating historical schools such as Pier Avenue School or North School are very expensive and cost prohibitive:
Proof of the lie:
NOTE: Rebuilding North School cost $29M and took from 2017 to 2021 (approximately four years) to accomplish.
(1) Newport Elementary School, Newport Beach, CA. (Newport Mesa Unified Schol District) Originally built in 1894. Replaced by brick buildings and a bell tower which had collapsed during the Long Beach Earthquake of March 1933. Reconstructed in 1936. Completely renovated in 2001 for $4.1M (hard costs). Still in use today. Administration offices have wood floors and wall murals that date back to FDR’s New Deal programs during the Great Depression.
(2) Richmond Street School, El Segundo, CA. (El Segundo Unified School District) Destroyed in the 1933 Long Beach Earthquake. Rebuilt in 1936 by the Public Works Administration (WPA) one of FDR’s New Deal programs during the Great Depression. Completely renovated in 2002 for $5.3M. Still in use today.
“Why use the CHBC (California Historic Building Code)? Buildings
and structures identified to contribute to the culture, community, or
heritage of a locality – and qualified historical – are recognized by
the state as being eligible for special consideration to retain those
attributes that are historic during rehabilitation or subsequent change
of use. The DSA recognizes that strict use of the regular [building]
code may create difficulties where rehabilitation attempts to retain
the historic characteristics of a building or structure. The CHBC
provides alternatives that 1) allow most of the historic characteristics
to be retained while 2) achieving the performance objectives of the
regular code.”
(4) Email from Debi Howell-Ardila to the May 31, 2016 Joint City and School District meeting. Debi Howell-Ardila is Senior Architectural Historian/Historic Preservation Specialist with SWCA Environmental Consultants and vice chair of the Cultural Heritage Commission (CHC) of South Pasadena.
“In my opinion, and based on the dozens of schools I’ve surveyed
throughout SoCal, North Elementary appears eligible for the City of
Hermosa Beach Register under local criteria A (“It exemplifies or
reflects special elements of the city’s cultural, social, economic,
political, aesthetic, engineering, or architectural history”) C (“It
embodies distinctive characteristics of a style, type, period, or method
of construction”), and D (“It is representative of the notable work of a
builder, designer or architect,” in this case, renowned architects
Samuel Lunden and Marsh, Smith and Powell).
“In terms of the California Register, it appears eligible under
Criteria 1, as a highly representative example of a 1930’s school, as well as Criteria 3, as an outstanding example of WPA-era Art Deco
institutional building.”
(5) Cost to renovate North School by independent builders Juge Construction $6.2M. Juge Construction also did the renovations at Valley School in the 1980s. Not only was Juge Construction approximately ¼ the cost of demolishing and rebuilding North School, but the district’s other estimates to renovate/modernize North School were also approximately ½ to 1/3 the cost of demolishing and rebuilding North School. The district's hired expert, Paul Bunton, gave the Facility Planning Advisory Committee an estimate of $11M to renovate North School. The district's hired architects, GKK works gave an estimate of $14.8M to renovate North School.
(6) The cost to demolish and rebuild North School would also entail:
…”Project implementation would disturb the entire site and
require the demolition and removal of all improvements.
Approximately 28,900 square feet of existing structures would be
demolished, and 57,560 square feet of asphalt and concrete paving
would be removed. The project would require approximately 1,000
cubic yards of soil import to support the extension of the developed
footprint over the vegetated slope.” The Environmental Impact
Report (2017-2018): Section 4 Project Description: 4.2.6 Construction