MISSION'S NEW IMPACT REPORT SET FOR RELEASE PUBLIC TO GET LOOK AT EXPANSION PLAN.

Byline: SUSAN ABRAM Staff Writer

SYLMAR -- A revised environmental impact report on expansion plans at Los Angeles Mission College will be released Thursday, giving the public a chance to take a look at possible construction on the campus.

The public has 45 days to comment on the report, which will include impacts on traffic in the surrounding neighborhood and potential job growth that could provide an economic shot in the arm for the area.

Under the plans, 10 acres still being pursued by the district would be used for a health and fitness center, classrooms and a parking garage for the 7,300-student, 22-year-old campus.

But a good chunk of the plans are based on land acquisitions still not finalized, officials said.

After having to abandon a land swap with Los Angeles County and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, college district officials want to obtain 10 acres, some through eminent domain -- a process in which a public or private entity is given legal power to acquire private property for the public good.

That land runs next to other property owned by a church, which college officials hope will accept a replacement property.

``We looked for nearby property because we wanted to have a consolidated college, not a split one,'' said Larry Eisenberg, the district's executive director for facilities management.

The swath at Eldridge Avenue and Harding Street along Maclay Street was once owned by two churches. The Pentecostal Church sold its land to Comstock Homes, while the other piece is still owned by St. Ephraim's Syrian Church, Eisenberg said.

Comstock plans to use its land to develop 42 single-family homes, company officials have said.

The Sylmar campus is under a tight deadline to begin construction because its funding comes from the college's $176 million share of the $2.2 billion from propositions A and AA construction bond funds passed in 2001 and 2003, respectively. Construction must begin by April, Eisenberg said.

Before that, the environmental impact report must receive input from the public and approval by the Los Angeles Community College District's board of trustees. Bids for contractors also must be selected and approved.

Mission is the smallest and newest of the nine Los Angeles Community College District campuses. It opened in 1991.

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com

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An environmental impact report based on expansion plans for Los Angeles Mission College will be available to the public Thursday at local public libraries and on the college's Web site at www.lamission.edu.

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