RESIDENTS BLAST PLAN FOR SCHOOL.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - Los Angeles Unified's plan to build a middle school inside Valley Plaza has angered some residents and forced the city to scale back its redevelopment plan for the dated shopping center.

Diann Corral, president of the Mid Town North Hollywood Neighborhood Council, said Wednesday that residents groups have written many letters pleading with the district to put the school on the northern edge of the plaza, but to no avail.

The campus, she said, would split the shopping area and substantially reduce the size of the redevelopment project.

``We want the redevelopment project to be a larger project. The area really needs it,'' Corral said. ``We are just afraid if the school is going to be placed where it is going to be placed, it will make for a smaller project and not make as big an impact on the community.''

Kiara Harris, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency, said the agency is working with New Schools Better Neighborhoods - a nonprofit collaborative planning organization - to develop a solution.

``We are hoping to be able to find a way to have schools, but of course, economic development and jobs,'' she said. ``People still have to work.''

The neighborhood council wants the school to be located along Laurel Canyon Boulevard, between Kittridge and Archwood streets, where Ralphs and Smart & Final stand, instead of at Laurel Canyon and Hamlin Street where a number of small shops are located.

But despite hours of discussions between Mayor James Hahn's office, Councilwoman Wendy Greuel and the Community Redevelopment Agency, the Los Angeles Unified School District is sticking by its plan to build the school at Laurel Canyon and Hamlin, just below Ralphs.

District officials said switching sites for the school now could cost the district more than $17 million and substantially delay relief for area students, who now attend overcrowded, year-round schools.

Nearby Sun Valley and Reed middle schools are on the Concept 6 calendar, which provides 163 days of schooling compared with 180 days at traditional-calendar campuses.

``An awful lot of work has been done. It would be a very costly proposition to relocate now,'' said Jim McConnell, the district's chief of facilities. ``It would certainly delay the opening of the school by at least 13 months and cost us millions of dollars.''

School board President Caprice Young, who represents the San Fernando Valley, defended the Sears site, saying the district chose it with the support of the community.

``There is an enormous amount of community support for this site. I can't think of one school site where everyone is happy,'' she said. ``We do our best to make as many people happy as possible, keeping in mind our No. 1 goal is to build schools.''

Young noted an earlier attempt by the district to work with a developer to build on the Ralphs site did not pan out because the developer's price was too high.

The district chose the Lauren Canyon and Hamlin site over the Ralphs site, McConnell said, because the former is larger and it would be cheaper to relocate smaller tenants than the supermarket.

In addition, that location - being close to the Valley Plaza Park - enables the district and the community to benefit from a joint-use project.

The soccer fields for the new middle school are designed such that they abut Valley Plaza Park and are accessible to the community.

Proposed for a 10-acre site, the new middle school would include 67 classrooms that could accommodate 1,620 students on a traditional-calendar schedule. The school is expected to break ground in 2004 and open in 2006.

Developer J.H. Snyder, who is working with the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency to revitalize Valley Plaza, would not take a position on the controversy surrounding the school's location.

However, he acknowledged that his plans for the area had to be revised in light of the school's location.

``We are staying out of that. You do not want to fight motherhood or schools,'' he said.

Claire Bartels, chief of staff for Greuel, insisted the councilwoman is not taking a position and is striving to balance the interest for a new school, community concerns and economic development.

``What the council member would like to see is a thriving economic center, adjacent or meshed with a successful school to serve the kids of that community - to get the kids off the busing.

``Hopefully, a marriage of the two at either location.''