Robert Chacon
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's 10-year master plan to update its
aging facility will apparently have minimal effects on La Canada
Flintridge.
Still, when JPL officials present their plan to the City Council
on Monday, council members want to know how the plan -- which
includes adding parking structures -- will change traffic in the
city.
"We just want to make sure that more traffic isn't funneled
through the Oak Grove [Drive] entrance, because a lot of employees
arrive around the same time as students and teachers do," Councilman
Dave Spence said, referring to La Canada High School, which is down
the street from JPL's main entrance.
Since JPL is part of the federal government, the city's
jurisdiction over development there is limited to advisory status.
But the city does have jurisdiction over development on its
right-of-ways, such as the section of Oak Grove leading to JPL's
entrance.
The development plan is generalized and does not represent any
project that is specific enough to get a more thorough review by city
staff, officials said. The plan, for the most part, is a wish list of
possible developments.
City staff is recommending that the council not make
recommendations to JPL, but instead make a motion to receive and file
the report.
"Our staff will monitor the developments as they occur," Spence
said.
The plan establishes four major goals for JPL through 2013, which
include building new offices and lab space, adding more parking and
relocating the campus' emergency services building.
JPL has received approval from NASA to build one new building to
replace several older ones. Construction is expected to begin in
2005.
"Our plan is not an expansion plan but a replacement plan," JPL
Executive Manager Richard O'Toole said.
Part of the plan includes eliminating parking space on the east
side of the campus, and relocating it near the Oak Grove entrance.
To lessen the effect of increased traffic, JPL's plan includes
increasing carpool participation, staggering work schedules and
building a new traffic signal at the Foothill (210) Freeway offramp.
JPL has not received approval for the parking structure.
