Belmont Stands as a Case Study in Cleanup Hazards.

IF there is one L.A. site that showed the nation the pitfalls of trying to build on contaminated sites, it's the 35-acre former oilfield just west of downtown known now as Belmont.

The Los Angeles Unified School District has poured $170 million into the site at Temple Street and Beaudry Avenue in a now-stalled effort to build what would have been the nation's costliest high school, the Belmont Learning Complex.

What began as an ambitious attempt to build a combination school/retail complex to relieve student overcrowding in the downtown area has sunk into a seemingly endless morass.

The site emits methane gas and contains other contaminants. For years, planning and construction work proceeded on the school/retail project, despite warnings that the methane gas could pose a danger to students and teachers. Before the warnings became public in late 1998, more than $150 million had already been spent.

In January, the board voted 5-2 to stop work on the half-built Belmont project over strenuous objections from many area students and local Latino politicians and activists.

But the project isn't dead yet. Boosters say that the methane emissions could be controlled and the site could still be put to use as a school. Politicians such as county Supervisor Gloria Molina, as well as community activists, are calling for the state Department of Toxic Substances Control to complete its environmental study of the site.

On July 5, the board ordered new school Superintendent Roy Romer to report back within four weeks with a plan for the ultimate use of the site. That plan should include asking the DTSC to finish its environmental study, the board said.

There are a number of other possible uses being suggested for the site, including selling it to a private developer or using it for the LAUSD headquarters.

On the investigation front, special school district investigator Don Mullinax referred several allegations of wrongdoing against LAUSD officials and Belmont contractors to District Attorney Gil Garcetti, City Attorney James Hahn and state Attorney General Bill Lockyer. To date, all have declined to pursue the allegations.

But the real legal battles have yet to begin. So far, four lawsuits have been filed. The school district last year sued its legal counsel on the project, O'Melveny & Myers, alleging that the prominent downtown law firm had been negligent in its environmental due diligence. The district also filed suit against project developer Kajima Development Co. and other Belmont contractors in an effort to recover some of the $170 million spent so far on the project. Kajima has in turn counter-sued the district, claiming it has withheld payments.

And just last week, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a nonprofit civil rights organization, filed suit against the district. The suit alleges that the existing environmental impact report does not fully take into account the cleanup alternatives and seeks to require the district to prepare a new EIR.

None of these suits has yet even reached the preliminary hearing stage; settlements or resolutions may be years away.

And then there is the problem of where to put thousands of students who must now be bused out of the Belmont area because there is no more classroom space in the neighborhood.

Several sites have been proposed for another new high school project, including a parking lot at Dodger Stadium (opposed by the Los Angeles Dodgers), the current LAUSD headquarters site at 450 North Grand Ave., and the old Ambassador Hotel property (which is still embroiled in litigation).

School district administrators say finding one or more alternate sites is their top priority, yet no definitive timetable for making a site selection has been set, meaning a workable plan is many months away.