By Mary O’KEEFE

The Glendale Unified School District has contracted with Placeworks to conduct the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the proposed lighting and bleachers at Crescenta Valley High School track and field.

The district has also contracted with TbP Architects to do preliminary drawings/plans for Placeworks to use in its study, said Kristine Nam, spokeswoman for GUSD.

Nam added this will take a couple more months to complete.

As reported in the Aug. 16 issue of CVW, there are plans to bring stadium lighting and bleachers to the CVHS field, something that has been talked about since the track and field was renovated in 2006.

“We are going to add bleachers and lights at CVHS [track and field],” said Steve Dickinson, GUSD chief business and financial officer.

The school’s track and field was renovated in 2006. It was funded through a grassroots effort of community members who formed CV CAN and a generous donation by Susan Osborne and her family. At the time, there was talk about adding lights and stands, but it was put on the back burner as the focus stayed on renovating the track and field. In 2015, the field was renovated and, recently, another grassroots effort brought the subject of lights and stands back to the GUSD board. The stands and lights would allow CVHS sports, like football games, to be played on Falcons’ home turf. The team games are currently played at Glendale High School. It would also save the school money because the school rents stands for commencement ceremonies and has to pay to transport teams to play at Glendale High.

In the past there had been concerns about lighting being intrusive to neighbors, but Jeff Bohn, construction project manager for GUSD, said lighting technology has evolved in the last 12 years. Today’s stadium lights are more focused and do not have the large volume of light spill into nearby neighborhoods.

After the CEQA/EIR studies are done the district will then hold community meetings to get input from residents.

  Mary Okeefe