Earlier this year, Metro prevailed in its State lawsuit againss the City of Beverly Hills over the environmental dangers of tunneling under the high school. It is currently undertaking a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, following a Federal judge’s ruling earlier this year. The ruling comes as a result of a suit by the Beverly Hills Unified School District (BHUSD).
With the passage of Measure M at the Nov. 8 elections, Metro had hoped to move forward with Section 2 of the Purple Line Subway extension to Century City. However, despite the ruling that construction can go ahead, BHUSD has now filed another suit against the Federal Transit Administration (FTA.)
BHUSD’s argument has always been that there are grave environmental risks to the tunneling under Beverly Hills High School, a project that is necessary to place the Century City station at Constellation Boulevard and Avenue of the Stars.
In the school district’s latest filing on Nov. 12, it argues that tunneling under the school “will cause permanent and irreparable harm” to historic buildings and jeopardize a $340 million-expansion of the school.
The suit claims that Metro’s current environmental review is “unlawful” and that Metro has “proceeded unhindered in its pursuit of construction.”
BHUSD is asking for an injunction to prevent Metro from building at the Constellation Boulevard site and to halt the supplemental environmental review. BHUSD is still demanding that Metro considerate alternative sites for the station.
Following the filing, Metro issued a statement that read, in part, “In his August 2016 ruling, U.S. District Court Judge George Wu upheld the FTA’s approval of the Purple Line Extension Project’s second phase. The required supplemental environmental analysis will be completed well before the anticipated 2018 start of major construction of the section that will travel underneath Beverly Hills.”
Metro also mentioned the Measure M funding, stating, “Nearly 70 percent of voters countywide voted [in the November 8 election] to bring this project and other transportation improvements to reality, including nearly 67 percent of Beverly Hills voters.”
