By Antonio Pequeño IV
Special to the San Fernando Valley Sun/el Sol
The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission unanimously voted to approve the designation of a North Hills house as a historic-cultural monument — an approval sought by a group of residents that want the house and the 2.1 acres of land it sits on to be restored and made into a community park.
The group of residents, which collectively organized as the North Hills Preservation Consortium, is contending with charter school organization Bright Star Schools over the land located at 15526 Plummer St.
Both the preservation consortium and Bright Star sought the historic monument designation of the house.
However, the respective groups have different plans for what should be built on the land.
Neighbors Support Using The Site For Public Space
The consortium is seeking to build a public park, community museum and restored version of the home on the land. It has a hand-signed petition with 137 signatures from neighbors surrounding the location and also has a change.org petition that has so far garnered 285 signatures.
Headed by President Debora Masterson, the consortium submitted the application for the historic-cultural monument designation last year, before the homeowner agreed to sell the house to Bright Star, effectively putting the consortium and charter school organization into contest.
The consortium has argued that the elementary school is not necessary because there are already 25 pre-existing schools in North Hills, according to Masterson. Further, the consortium cited concerns about traffic, pollution and noise in their change.org petition, also adding that the Bright Star academy would starve the area of the little green communal space it has.
Bright Star sees things differently with its intention to build an elementary school at the site while also preserving the home.
A reason the organization wants an elementary school on the land is that it would act as a relocation site for Arleta-based Valor Academy Elementary, bringing the school and its students closer to Bright Star’s local middle school and high school, which are also located in North Hills. A successful relocation would make all three schools within a five-minute drive of each other.
Home Is More Than 100 Years Old
Bright Star is currently in escrow with Hamid Nourafchan, the owner of the home that was built in 1914 and was identified in 2014 as a historical resource by the Los Angeles Office of Historic Resources. The office said the house was given the designation because it represented “the earliest pattern of development in the area; a very rare, remaining example of an intact 1910s residence in North Hills and the San Fernando Valley as a whole.”
“Bright Star has been and continues to be in support of the historical designation of the home and all plans submitted to the local neighborhood council, Council District 7, and City Planning have always reflected the preservation of the home, even prior to the CHC designation,” Hrag Hamalian, Bright Star Schools Executive Director, wrote in an email.
Even though the Cultural Heritage Commission voted to approve the historic designation, the next chapter of the battle for the land and home will come when the Los Angeles City Council votes on the same approval. The city council vote can take up to 90 days to be completed following the commission’s vote on Aug. 18.
However, the city council vote would not mark the end of the battle between the North Hills Preservation Consortium and Bright Star.
“Unfortunately, the historic-cultural monument designation does not prevent the charter school from purchasing the property and building a new elementary school ground-up surrounding the historic house and denying access to the public,” Masterson said.
“If Bright Star’s Valor Academy elementary school gets the green light, our goal to restore the historic house, create a museum and open space for the community will be unattainable.”
To our readers: Do you think the North Hills house should be restored with a public park and museum or should be a school site?
Why build yet another school when enrollment is decreasing? It is a waste of money. What we need is more parkland and community gathering spaces. Follow the money…
We have more than 20 schools in North Hills and most are under capacity. There are a lot of vacant classrooms in many schools in the valley. Besides, these private or charter schools claim their schools are better than the public schools in LAUSD, but not scores, nor the California School Dashboard con confirm their claim.