by Erika McCarden
for Altadenablog
It’s often been said that it takes a village to raise a child. In this case, thanks to the voices raised by concerned parents and neighbors of Loma Alta Elementary School, students will be able to enter and exit school more safely when the new school year begins in September.
“Loma Alta is a school in the north central part of the District, which is L.A. County land. Until a year ago, the school didn’t even have a side walk on the west side of campus,” said Steve Brinkman, chief of the facilities, planning and maintenance and operations division for Pasadena Unified School District. “There’s no way to safely drop kids off at school. It’s a significant safety issue. The neighbors and parents offered concern, and frequent complaints were made to legislatures.”
(Photo: a new retaining wall and sidewalk are under construction at Loma Alta Elementary School.)
Chalmers Construction Services, Inc., broke ground last month with plans to create a brand new school entrance and sidewalk at Loma Alta Drive and Canon Boulevard. The project, made possible by a 2008 $350 million Measure TT bond initiative to repair and upgrade Pasadena Unified School District's aging and deteriorating campuses, comes exactly one year after the upper end of Loma Alta’s campus received a new fence and steps to prevent students from having to walk through the main parking lot to get into the school. The Measure’s top objective is to make all school campuses safe, secure, and accessible.
While the project seems simple enough, Brinkman informed that it took close to a year to approve because of the necessary Los Angeles County approvals. The hiring of architects and project planning ranged from six to nine months, and a grading difference called for a retaining wall to be built in order to get the sidewalk in place. With less traffic to face, and when all permits were in place, Brinkman said summer was the perfect time to get the job completed in time for the new school year.
“It’s a pretty intricate process. We had to get an encroachment permit, title reports, establish land ownership, and obtain civil engineering plans and state approvals,” said Brinkman.
The retaining wall that had to be constructed called for a permit to restore the county street, change the traffic approach at Canon Boulevard and Loma Alta Drive, and Edison telephone poles had to be removed in order to create the sidewalk and wall.
“There’s a big elevation difference from the top to the bottom, and to create the sidewalk we have to cut into the bank to secure it so that it doesn’t tumble down -so, no hazards to children. This is a safety project, pure and simple. Our No. 1 concern is safety,” said Brinkman.
