Marymount Granted More Time for Construction

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, the Rancho Palos Verdes City Council granted a three-month time extension to complete construction outlined in phase one of the college's campus expansion project.

Phase one of the project, which includes construction of new parking facilities, athletic fields and water utilities, was initially slated to be completed by Sept. 30 of this year, but the college requested a one-year time extension from the council in July.

In asking for the extension, Marymount said that a variety of factors have held up construction including difficulty raising funds during a recession, expenditure on other campus improvements and wait times for permits and approvals.

During a lengthy discussion that included a project update and presentation by Marymount College president Dr. Michael Brophy, the council stated that its main concern was the completion of a permanent 120-space parking lot for students by December.

Currently, the college is using a temporary gravel parking lot that was constructed after residents expressed concern over the amount of student vehicles that were parked along Palos Verdes Drive East during the school day.

However, that temporary parking lot has ruffled the feathers of nearby residents, including Councilwoman Susan Brooks, who compared the lot to a "dustbowl" and called it "a tribute to the late Neil Armstrong's attempt to land on the moon."

After driving into the lot herself, Brooks likened it to a "Wal-Mart parking lot" and said there was too much dust created by the lot. "We arrived home only to see my new black Audi completely covered in a blanket of dust," she wrote in an email to city staff.

According to the city, the college has cooperated by building the lot and is doing everything possible to keep dust levels down. City staff also pointed out that the temporary lot has significantly reduced the number of cars parked on the street.

With the time extension, Dr. Brophy said that construction of a permanent parking lot could be completed by December and the temporary lot could be returned to its natural state.

In only granting Marymount a three-month, instead of one-year extension the city said it can hold the school to its word.

"This would enable the city council to monitor the college's ability to fulfill its commitment to construct the expanded permanent parking lot and other infrastructure improvements described in Phase 1 in the next few months," a city staff report stated.

Nevertheless, those opposed to granting the time extension, such as Lois Karp with the Concerned Citizens Coalition, pointed out that Marymount's conditional use permit only allows for a set amount of construction days. Karp said the permit allows for 90 days of total construction time in phase one of the plan and a total of 36 months of construction time across all three phases.

With an expected parking lot construction time of eight weeks, Karp argued that the college will have very little time to complete any other projects in phase one and said additional construction would extend beyond the total time allowed by the permit.

"The burden and denigration on the quality of life for the surrounding residents was to be spread out over only 36 months of construction time," said Karp in a letter to the city. "This was an intrinsic part of the approval process and was stressed by the college and staff throughout the hearings on this project."

Despite some opposition though, the council generally agreed that the college was working to meet the city's demands.

"The goal here is to find some balance so we can all coexist," said Mayor Pro Tem Brian Campbell. "I am concerned about unnecessarily keeping this pressure on them... I am not sure if that is really that productive when perhaps and extra four weeks or so... might not just be a smarter way to go about this."

Once the new parking lot is completed, work will begin on the new athletic fields, which the school said will hopefully be completed by June. The school will also have 30 days to return the temporary gravel parking lot back to its original condition.

An additional request by the college to extend phase two of its expansion project was denied by the council and will be revisited closer to the project's deadline in June 2015.