James Monroe High School Physical Education Building and Natural Track Upgrades

2026090909

Los Angeles Unified School District

NOE - Notice of Exemption

9/21/2026

9/21/2026

Bryan Ramos Fernandez

Los Angeles Unified School District

CEQA Project Manager

Lead/Public Agency

333 S Beaudry Ave, 21st Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017

(213) 241-4210

cp-bryan.fernandez@lausd.net

James Monroe High School

The James Monroe High School Physical Education Building and Natural Track Upgrades (Project) is located at 9229 Haskell Avenue in the neighborhood of North Hills in the City of Los Angeles. lt is bound by Tupper Street to the north Haskell Avenue to the east, Nordhoff Street to the south. and Gloria Avenue to the west. The Project will occur on an approximately five—acre portion of the James Monroe High School campus (Monroe HS or Campus) where the existing athletic fields and Physical Education Building are currently located. The Campus is located in an urbanized community primarily consisting of residential, commercial, and institutional uses.

Categorical Exemption

15301, 15302, 15303, 15311

Section 15301 — Existing Facilities Class 1 consists of the operation. repair, maintenance, permitting. leasing. licensing, or minor alteration of existing public or private structures, facilities. mechanical equipment, or topographical features involving negligible or no expansion of use beyond that existing at the time of the lead agency‘s determination. The Project will upgrade the interior of the existing Physical Education building and resurface the existing track. The Project will not generate growth or require the addition 0r construction of new or expanded facilities. Therefore, the Project fulfills the requirements of CEQA Guidelines Section 15301. Section 15302 - Replacement or Reconstruction Class 2 consists of replacing or reconstructing existing structures and facilities where the new structure will be located on the same site as the structure replaced and will have substantially the same purpose and capacity as the structure replaced. The Project will upgrade the interior of the existing Physical Education Building with removal and replacement of the competition gym telescoping bleachers, scoreboard, light fixtures, and acoustical wall tiles; removal and replacement of flooring in the lobbies and concession area; removal and replacement of concessions casework; painting of the two gym lobbies, and concession area; resurfacing the existing decomposed granite track with new compacted decomposed granite surfacing. The Project will not result in an increase or alteration of the current use, function, or capacity of the existing Campus. Therefore, the Project fulfills the requirements of CEQA Guidelines Section 15302. Section 15303 — New Construction or Conversion of Small Structures Class 3 consists of construction and location of limited numbers of new, small facilities or structures; installation of small new equipment and facilities in small structures; and the conversion of existing small structures from one use to another where only minor modifications are made to the structure. The Project will upgrade the interior of the Physical Education building that qualifies as small facilities or structures. Therefore, the Project satisfies the requirements of CEQA Guidelines Section 15303. Section 15311 — Accessory Structures Class 11 consists of construction or replacement of minor structures accessory to (appurtenant to) existing commercial, industrial, or institutional facilities, including, but not limited to, on—premise signs and small parking lots. The Project will upgrade the interior of the Physical Education building and resurface the existing track. These structures are considered minor accessory to the existing Campus. Therefore, the Project satisfies the requirements of CEQA Guidelines Section 15311. Section 15300.2 — Exceptions Section 15300.2 of the CEQA Guidelines, Exceptions, provides conditions under which categorical exemptions are inapplicable. Review of the Project indicates that it will not violate any of the exceptions, as described in the following section. 1. The project will occur in certain specified sensitive environments or locations; The Project site is a fully-developed Campus within the urbanized neighborhood of North Hills and is surrounded by residential, institutional, and commercial uses. The site is not designated as a biologically sensitive location. The nearest significant ecological area (SEA) is the Tujunga Valley/Hansen Dam SEA in Los Angeles located approximately 4.3 miles east of the Project site. The nearest sensitive environment to the Project site is the Southwestern Willow flycatcher habitat at Hansen Dam located approximately 4.2 miles east of the Project site. As such, the Project will not impact sensitive environments or locations. 2. Cumulative impacts will be considerable because successive projects of the same type would occur at the same place over time; The Campus is an active school site and there will likely be ongoing maintenance activities and minor projects on the Campus to keep the school operational. There are currently no known successive projects of the same type or scale planned for the Campus. As the Project would not result in any lasting impacts once construction of the Project is complete, the Project would not contribute to cumulative impacts when considered with expected successive projects. Therefore, no cumulative impacts will result from the Project and successive projects of the same type and at the same place over time. 3. There is a reasonable possibility that the activity will have a significant effect on the environment due to unusual circumstances; There are no known unusual circumstances that would have a significant effect on the environment. The proposed scope of work does not include removal of trees. Should the Project be altered to include the removal of trees, LA Unified’s Office of Environmental Health & Safety (OEHS) must be notified immediately. District policy requires consultation with an arborist to determine if the trees are a protected native species. All tree trimming and removal conducted on District property is required to adhere to the procedures described in the LAUSD OEHS Tree Trimming and Removal Procedure. Additionally, written approval from the school principal will be required before any trees can be removed. If tree removal is scheduled to occur between February 1 and August 31, a nesting bird survey would be performed prior to removal activities, per SC-BIO-3. The Project will include minor ground-disturbing activities. These activities are not considered unusual circumstances for the classes of projects under which an exemption is claimed. Nevertheless, consideration must be given to the management of pavement removal and excavated soils associated with earthwork activities for the Project. OEHS must be notified to provide oversight to ensure that these activities are conducted in compliance with the requirements of District Specification 01 4524, relevant provisions of South Coast Air Quality Management District Rule 1466, and other applicable environmental agency rules and requirements.6 Furthermore, as set forth in SC-CUL-6, SC-CUL-7, SC-CUL-10, and SC-CUL-11, construction activities must be stopped immediately and OEHS notified upon discovery of subsurface features, such as buried resources (i.e., paleontological resources, archaeological resources), tanks or seepage pits, or stained/odoriferous soils. Lastly, any construction and demolition waste shall be recycled to the maximum extent feasible per SC-USS-1. Therefore, the Project will not have a significant effect on the environment due to unusual circumstances. 4. The project may result in damage t0 scenic resources, including but not limited to trees, historic buildings, rock outcroppings, or similar resources within a highway officially designated as a state scenic highway; The closest designated state scenic highway to the Project site is the Topanga Canyon State Scenic Highway, a 2.5-mile portion of State Route 27 (SR-27), which is located approximately 12.8 miles south of the Campus in the Santa Monica Mountains.7 The Project will not result in the removal of historic buildings, rock outcroppings, or other scenic resources. Therefore, the Project will not result in damage to scenic resources or similar resources within a highway officially designated as a state scenic highway. 5. The project is located 0n a site which is included on any list compiled pursuant to Section 65962.5 of the Government Code; or The Project site is not located on any sites that are included on any list compiled pursuant to Government Code Section 65962.5.8 Therefore, the Project will have no impacts related to being located on a hazardous waste site. 6. The project may cause a substantial adverse change in the significance of a historic resource. The Campus opened in 1958, meeting LAUSD's threshold for review as a potential historic resource and requiring evaluation for historic eligibility. LAUSD‘S Historic Preservation Specialist has determined that the Campus is not eligible for federal, State, or local listing under any of the applicable criteria and is therefore not considered a historical resource pursuant to CEQA. Therefore, the Project would have no impact to a historic resource.