This new high school was proposed on the campus of the California State University Northridge (CSUN). This school was proposed as an academy high school and would share athletic facilities with CSUN. This project was highly controversial with the neighboring community and required extensive interaction with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to address concerns with traffic. Aspen assisted with the preparation for public meetings and participated in the public scoping meeting and public hearing on the Draft EIR. A revised traffic study was needed to address the public comments on traffic and to explore additional traffic mitigation; traffic was a significant unavoidable impact after mitigation. The report was certified by the Board of Education and was not challenged by the public despite significant controversy regarding traffic impacts.

This project falls under Aspen's On-call Environmental Services Contract assisting the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD, the nation's second largest school district) with one of the largest public works projects in the country - the planning and construction of more than 100 new schools and the expansion of dozens of existing schools to meet existing overcrowding conditions in the greater Los Angeles area schools. The school construction program addressing existing overcrowding conditions within the LAUSD is referred to as Phase I. Phase II and future phases deal with project student enrollment through the year 2020. As part of this ongoing services contract, Aspen prepares CEQA documentation such as EIRs and IS/MNDs for Primary Centers, Elementary Schools, Middle Schools, and High Schools throughout the eight planning areas of the LAUSD, which have a total student enrollment of over 800,000. The focus of many of the documents are assessment of impacts associated with air quality emission, on-site hazards and hazardous materials, project-generated noise, land use and planning, and traffic and transportation. Major issues of concern usually include traffic and noise generated by school operation activities. Aspen's CEQA review documents incorporate LAUSD design standards and measures employed to minimize environmental impacts. During the environmental review process for many of the school projects, Aspen coordinates with the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to minimize project traffic impacts through mitigation options including mitigation fees. Aspen is currently working on our second Master Services Agreement, awarded in February of 2004.