Five Minutes: John Kuechle and West LA College Construction

Culver City homeowners associations are waiting for August 11—the fated day when the Los Angeles Community College District will approve or reject a 2010 Supplemental Environmental Impact Report for upwards of 350,000 square feet of new development on the West Los Angeles College campus. 

This document has created an uproar amongst neighborhood association members, who say that the SEIR does not honor a 2005 memorandum of understanding between West LA and the community regarding original plans for the construction project. While construction began in 2006 and was target to end this year, the new plan stretches out construction for an additional three years. 

After a rejection last week from the City Council on an amendment hammered out between the college and city staff that aimed to address community concerns, homeowners have started buzzing about legal action against the college if they proceed without addressing their issues.

Councilman Scott Malsin said he cannot comment on the question of a lawsuit from the city at this time.

Patch sat down with John Kuechle, chairman of the West LA College Subcommittee of the Culver Crest Neighborhood Association, to get his take on the controversial construction at the college.

Culver City Patch: When did you find out about this amendment? I heard at last week's City Council meeting that many community members felt there were backdoor negotiations.

John Kuechle: After the new SEIR came out in March of this year, there was a 45-day comment period, where we sent in comment letters regarding the 2010 SEIR. The college and the city got together to try to address the problems in the comment letters.

Mark Rocha—the former West LA College president--wanted it to be a small group, so there was one representative from each of the homeowners associations, Interim City Manager Lamont Ewell and Mark Rocha. Ken Kutcher was our representative, and was told not to speak about what happened in these meetings.

Patch: What happened next?

Kuechle: At board meetings of the Culver Crest Neighborhood Association, we would tell Ken that we were troubled by the secrecy. At that point, we hoped that these meetings would result in something similar to the 2005 memorandum of understanding. While we weren't thrilled with the MOU--and the college wasn't thrilled with it--but we could live with it. We hoped that the amendment would have a set of reasonable compromises.

Ken told us from the first meeting that we would get together and work out a document and that each party would go back to its constituents and agree and negotiate on it. But that never happened.

Two-thirds of the way through negotiations, the group that had been meeting to have a three-party negotiation split into two groups of meetings, with one group consisting of the city and the college and another with the college and the homeowners associations.

These meetings between the homeowners association and the college never ended up in an ultimate agreement. No one outside of the city and the college saw the amendment before the City Council meeting last Monday.  The homeowners association was not consulted with the amendment that was rejected last week. Ken Kutcher didn't even see it until last Friday.

Patch: Given everything that has happened, what would make you, as a homeowner, happy?

Kuechle: I think they need to go back to the starting line, and start over again. If you've looked at the final SEIR, I wrote a 60-page letter addressing the problems. If they are not addressed, the next step is that there will be legal action. We in the neighborhood--we get so angry that we don't say it--but many of us think the college is an asset. Education is very important to me. No one has anything against having a college here, but they need to have some concern with how they impact the people they live around.

Patch: What would you like to say to West LA College?

Kuechle: I met with Mark Rocha once a week for the first year of his tenure. I have dealt with many of the vice president here. At this point with Rocha gone, I don't think that anyone at the college is dealing with it. I think it's being dealt with at the community college district. I think they want to dispose of the neighbors and keep building.

*College counsel and Interim President Betsy Regalado have not responded to calls seeking comment.

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