LAUSD WON'T SPLIT BELMONT REPORT; FEASIBILITY STUDY LONG OVERDUE.

Byline: Greg Gittrich Staff Writer

Faced with concerns from state officials that an environmental review of the Belmont Learning Center has fallen behind schedule, Los Angeles Unified School District officials said Friday that plans to split up the work have been abandoned.

Following four months of new environmental tests at Belmont, school officials promptly submitted a remedial investigation report in June to the state Department of Toxic Substances Control.

The district, however, failed to include a feasibility study that explains how it plans to deal with the explosive methane gas and other toxic problems with the $200 million project. A Feb. 22 agreement with the state required the feasibility study to be drafted 30 days after the testing was completed.

District officials said they missed the deadline because of concerns the increasingly expensive scope of work, nearing $2 million, needed to be competitively bid as a separate project.

``Typically, the same firm is used to complete both the remedial investigation and feasibility plan,'' said Angelo Bellomo, the LAUSD School Safety Team's top environmental scientist.

``We were being super-cautious. The initial work didn't go through the typical contracting and bidding process because of its urgency,'' Bellomo said. ``The scope has grown since then, and we wanted to make sure were not violating any state laws.''

Friday afternoon, Janalyn Glymph, LAUSD deputy business manager, reported Environmental Strategies Corp., the firm that completed the first portion of the testing, will finish the work without competitive bidding.

The remedial investigation and feasibility plan are considered one document by the state, not separate projects, Glymph said.

A preliminary report by Environmental Strategies Corp. found methane pervades the 35-acre site. This prompted school board members to create an advisory commission last week to determine whether the project can be salvaged.

In a letter faxed Thursday to district officials, Sayareh Amir, unit chief of the Department of Toxic Substances Control's Southern California Clean Operations, warned that hiring a new firm to complete the feasibility study could cause further delay to the project schedule.

Amir noted the state had assured community members and elected officials the work would be completed by the end of the summer.

Ron Baker, a DTSC spokesman, said state officials prefer that the district allow Environmental Strategies Corp. to finish the scope of work in order to preserve continuity and keep the project moving in a timely manner.