City, School District Approve Safety Agreement At North School

From The City of Hermosa Beach: The City of Hermosa Beach and the Hermosa Beach City School District announced today that they have approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that charts the path forward for developing solutions that will enhance public safety and traffic flow at North School without causing delays in the school’s construction.

“The City and the School District have been working together to reach this agreement to prepare a Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan to improve pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular traffic around North School,” said Hermosa Beach Mayor Stacey Armato. “We thank School Board President Douglas Gardner, the other members of the School Board and the District’s leadership for working with the City to address these important matters. Working together, we have developed an agreement that will achieve the City’s and the District’s goals and ensure construction can move forward on North School.”

Hermosa Beach City School District Board President Douglas Gardner said he was pleased by the MOU’s adoption and looks forward to working with the City on developing the solutions called for in the MOU.

“We thank Hermosa Beach Mayor Stacey Armato, Councilmember Justin Massey, the other members of the City Council, City Manager Suja Lowenthal, Environmental Analyst Leanne Singleton, City Attorney Michael Jenkins, Assistant City Attorney Lauren Langer, Community Development Director Ken Robertson, and the rest of the City Staff for all of their hard work throughout this process,” he said. “The School Board and the District are eager to (1) begin the process with the City of engaging the transportation planning/traffic engineer, as called for in the MOU, and (2) award the lease-leaseback contract and commence pre-construction and construction at the North School site.”

The City and the District previously reached a “tolling agreement,” which provided additional time for them to work together to reach the MOU. As a result of their collaboration, the School Board and the City Council have approved an MOU that will lead to the development and refinement of plans for enhancing safety and traffic flow on the travel routes to and from North School, the drop-off and pick-up points both at the school and at off-site locations. The MOU also addresses how the City and District will share the costs of the Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan and any costs associated with implementing that plan.

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