Pali Council Supports Expedited Approval For Waldorf School Remodel

The Pacific Palisades Community Council has pledged its support to help expedite the city's final approval of the remodeling project.

During the remodeling, the school turned a former nearby inn into classroom space.

The PPCC vote, which took place on Jan. 12, calls for an administrative rather than public hearing review of the remodeling project. The city of Los Angeles requires a review to make sure that certain conditions are met upon approving the project. An administrative review would speed that process along.

"We're not asking to get out of doing anything that was required to be done," said Jeff Beall, the vice chairman of Westside Waldorf School's board of trustees. "All we're asking for is a simplified manner to get the final stamp of approval on the project completed."

Last summer the school footed most of the bill for a long-awaited at Sunset Boulevard and Los Liones Drive. The cost of installing the traffic signal was originally estimated at $100,000, but the final cost was more than $600,000, Beall said. The Getty museum contributed $150,000 for the traffic signal project. Now, school officials say Waldorf doesn't have the money to wait through a long approval process for the remodeling project.

"In an effort to prevent additional expense to the school, Pacific Palisades Community Council supports processing the reinstatement of the school’s original maximum student enrollment and plan approval administratively rather than with a hearing," the PPCC motion states.

The kindergarten through 8th grade school seeks a 246-student enrollment limit.