Letter: Harvard-Westlake, A Good Neighbor Worthy of Community Support

As Studio City residents who live close to the new parking garage and field proposed by Harvard-Westlake, we have a significant stake in whether the Parking Improvement Plan is approved or denied.

Harvard-Westlake has been an asset to the community since it first opened here in 1937, and its continued efforts to modernize the Studio City campus have not just benefited the school and its students, but the community as well. A strong Harvard-Westlake is good for the neighborhood: many local Sherman Oaks and Studio City residents send their children and grandchildren there.

That said, we need to evaluate the proposed project based on the impacts it could have on Studio City-both good and bad.

As neighbors of the school, we understand the potential knee-jerk reaction to oppose the plan. But anyone who has witnessed the parking challenges created by Friday night football games, other sporting events on campus and commencement, would agree that We do need a solution.

We have taken the time to evaluate Harvard-Westlake's proposed parking solution based on the facts as presented in the  comprehensive environmental documents, and have also considered Harvard-Westlake's stewardship ofthe land for generations.

ln the late 1980s, following the merger of Harvard and Westlake schools, the Studio City campus became a dedicated high school (10-12), causing a spike in parking demand. More recently, the school has increased the number of full and part-time faculty to support growing essential educational, athletic and performing arts programs, which has added to the significant overflow parking in the local neighborhood.

Add together the expanded faculty and staff, the ìncrease in number of visitors and a student body at its capacity, and you have a parking program that can’t handle the current load. Regularly, we see the large number of cars parked along Coldwater, on residential streets nearby and on the running track. Harvard-Westlake is an active campus, hosting regular events attended by many guests, including members of the Studio community.

With existing parking lots built for a different era, Harvard-Westlake's proposed plan adds a significant number of new spaces, while enhancing capacity to Coldwater Canyon. And by adding a new practice field atop the structure, the school can better accommodate its diverse athletic programs.

The school's plan to take cars off of Coldwater Canyon will also reduce congestion. Queuing buses on campus instead of on Coldwater Canyon and creating a "No Parking Zone" alongside the school will keep kids and the fast-traveling cars separate, which makes perfect sense from a safety standpoint.

Harvard-Westlake has designed an elegant solution to address traffic, parking and safety concerns for the school and for the neighborhood, and the addition of nearly 200 trees on the property is good for the environment as well.

Leaders from the school should continue to make clear, as they have to the local community over the past nine months, that the only access to the garage will be from Coldwater Canyon, and that field lights will only be used on weekdays and will be turned off by 8 p.m. at the latest. In addition, the school has committed to not use the field for competitions, so the field will not include any seats or a public address system. We urge the school to open the garage to local residents for special events- a move that would alleviate street parking on weekends.

Finally, and importantly, let's not forget that this property recently had two homes on it and served as a storage area for LADWP construction equipment for years. It’s far from pristine "open space" as some have represented. A well-planned project on that site that adds trees, increases pedestrian safety, takes cars out of our neighborhood and expands capacity on Coldwater Canyon is good public policy.

We are proud to have a school of Harvard-Westlake's caliber in our neighborhood, and generally want to support programs that enhance its status as a leading independent school locally and nationally. We support its plan to address parking and athletic needs in a way that also benefits our neighborhood.

James David, Studio City
Molly Quinn, Studio City
Paul Kradin, Studio City
Dianna Quinn, Studio City
Tom Quinn, Studio City
Natalie Mahdesian, Studio City