A Message from CHA’s Board President

Dear Crestwood Hills Residents,

As you may know, the Crestwood Hills Association has for decades leased a portion of its property to the Crestwood Hills Preschool (the Preschool). The Preschool has operated as a cooperative preschool and has educated the children of many Crestwood Hills Residents over the years. In 2015, the Preschool approached the CHA Board to discuss the possibility of expanding the physical presence of the school by about 1,000 square feet. The Board voted to conditionally support this effort, and is currently working with the Preschool to minimize the potential impacts of this proposed expansion, including but not limited to noise, dust, and traffic, both during the construction phase as well as on an ongoing basis.

In order for the Preschool to expand, it must apply for a change to its Conditional Use Permit (CUP) that is granted by the City of Los Angeles. The City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning will be conducting a hearing on Thursday, February 11, 2016. There are several cases being considered at that hearing, but the Crestwood Hills Preschool Expansion is currently scheduled to be heard first, at 9:30 a.m. We invite all residents of Crestwood Hills to attend the hearing and to provide their perspective on the proposed expansion. It is important to note that this hearing concerns the CUP that would be granted by the city.  Because the nursery school is a tenant of the Crestwood Hills Association, the Association may place additional restrictions on the nursery school via a lease or other legal contract that are not considered by the CUP. Details about Thursday’s hearing are below.

Joanna Port, Director of the Preschool, will be conducting an informational meeting about the school’s expansion plans on Tuesday, February 9, 2016, from 5:00 – 6:30 p.m. All residents are welcome to attend this meeting to hear from the school about its desire to expand its physical presence as well as its programs.  Designs of the school’s proposed expansion will be on display. A letter to homeowners from Ms. Port follows the hearing information below.

If you have any questions or comments, please direct them to crestwoodla@gmail.com.

Best Regards,
Kyle Kozloff

President, Crestwood Hills Association

Details on February 11 City Hearing

CITY OF LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF CITY PLANNING
WEST LA MUNICIPAL BUILDING, 1645 CORINTH AVENUE, SECOND FLOOR
Case #:  ZA 2015-3381(CU)
Staff Contact: Antonio Isaiah
Phone No.: (213) 978-1353
Antonio.Isaia@lacity.org
PROJECT LOCATION: 986 North Hanley Avenue
REQUESTED ACTION: The Zoning Administrator will consider:

A Conditional Use, pursuant to the provisions of Section 12.24-W,51 of the Los Angeles Municipal Code, to permit a 1,039 square-foot expansion to an existing school, otherwise not permitted in the RE15-1-H Zone by Section 12.07.01-A of the Code.

Pursuant to Section 21084 of the California Public Resources Code, the above referenced project has been determined not to have a significant effect on the environment and which shall therefore be exempt from the provisions of CEQA.

The purpose of the hearing is to obtain testimony from affected and/or interested persons regarding this project. The environmental document will be among the matters considered at the hearing. The decision maker will consider all the testimony presented at the hearing, written communication received prior to or at the hearing, and the merits of the project as it relates to existing environmental and land use regulations.

Letter from Joanna Port, Director of the Crestwood Hills Preschool

Dear Homeowners,

This letter is to provide you with current information about our improved PreK program and the building plans at Crestwood Hills Preschool.

For many years the PreK children (age 5) at our school had attended class from 12:15 to 3:00 or 4:30 pm. There wasn’t enough room in our school in the morning for the children to come any earlier. These hours were not ideal for children and for families. Families repeatedly asked for more time for their children. Furthermore, cut off dates for elementary schools in Los Angeles has gotten earlier and so there is more of a demand for PreK programs across the city. Our new all day PreK program meets the demands of the community and the many families we serve.

When I came in June 2014 we decided to implement the all day PreK program. This was applauded by the parents and the board voted unanimously to move forward with this plan. After looking into renting a home in the neighborhood or renting Tumbleweed camp we decided it was best for us to build a classroom on the property. We proceeded with surveys of the property, hired Cory Buckner as our architect and applied for permits.

From our various surveys we learned that the preschool property extends into the dog park about 2,000 sq. feet. That is where we are building the new structure…We very much wanted the building to look like Crestwood and that it match the existing structure. The approximate 1,000 square foot building has a classroom, a teacher’s lounge, two bathrooms and a multi purpose room for meetings and conferences. It is similar in size to the current building. The trees that outline the school will be replanted outside the fence again so the school building will not be seen from the street. We are licensed for 18 children in this new building. Every year approximately 2-3 families have two children in the school, usually one in PreK and one in a 3’s class, so the number of extra cars will be around 16.

Some of you may have noticed that we are renting the recreation center at the park in the mornings this year. We did this in order to extend the day for our currently enrolled PreK students. The children are dropped at 9:15 at the park and picked up at 3:00 at the school. Next year we are renting the recreation room until 3 for the PreK class. Our plan is to rent the park until the building is built. We do not have a time frame for construction at this point since we are waiting on city permits. The project should take 8-15 months. I will keep you updated with progress throughout the next two years.

In order to combat the traffic situation in your neighborhood and reduce the number of cars, we have decided to lower the number of students in our parent and me program. We currently have 80 children in this program and we are going to reduce that number to 64 in the Spring. We have implemented new driving routes this week. I have instructed our parents to drive three different routes other than Hanley and assigned routes to each class. Beginning this week parents in each class are driving the four different routes to and from school. My staff of 14 are also going other routes. I have encouraged our families to carpool as often as possible, especially our PreK kids who have more transportable car seats. I have contacted Tumbleweed camp in order to help in the effort to reduce traffic. We have a committee devoted to the traffic issue and we are making it a priority to help reduce it in your neighborhood.

Please feel free to contact me at 310.472.1566 or email at Joanna@crestwoodhillscoop.org.