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LAUSD Schools Upgrade Program EIR

PlaceWorks prepared a thorough, all-encompassing program-level EIR for the Los Angeles Unified School District’s School Upgrade Program that also serves as a “best practices manual” and the foundation for streamlining future CEQA compliance.

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Client

Los Angeles Unified School District

Location

Los Angeles County, California

Services

  • Graphic Design
  • CEQA/NEPA Compliance
  • Air Quality & GHG
  • Noise & Vibration
  • Risk Assessments
  • Site Assessment & Remediation
  • School Facilities Planning

Although LAUSD had a Program EIR for its New School Construction Program in 2004, a 15-year controversy over the discovery of soil gas and an earthquake fault at a partially built high school led the district to use extreme caution and prepare EIRs for every project. To avoid repeating this unneeded and costly practice, PlaceWorks prepared a program-level EIR for the next program phase, which was funded through the $7 billion Measure Q school bond and known as the School Upgrade Program (SUP). The SUP EIR serves as the program’s CEQA compliance, a “best practices manual,” and the foundation for streamlining thousands of future improvement projects.

The EIR compiles a massive amount of information into the LAUSD Standard Conditions—policies and memorandums adopted by the board of education, design and construction guidelines, mitigation measures, 500+ earlier CEQA documents, standard protocols, etc. The LAUSD Standard Conditions will be incorporated into future projects, eliminating project-by-project mitigation measures and repetitive analysis of issues that were adequately addressed in the SUP EIR. The vast majority of projects will likely be processed with a preliminary CEQA review and notice of determination.