School district official discusses Oak Creek project

As a practice, the school district does not routinely respond to letters that appear in the Letters to the Editor section. However, there has been extensive discussion and confusion regarding the impact on the school district from the Oak Creek project.

For the record, the stated impact to the school district by this project based upon district developed formulas is 225 students K-12. Our formula breakout would project 148 elementary students, 23 middle school students and 50 high school students.

These numbers are derived from a statistical data base that provides the anticipated pupil generation count for various types of housing. The number that was quoted in your Sept. 25 Letters to the Editor section came from a November 2001 letter that was predicated on a different type of project in terms of number and type of dwelling units. The project in its current state did not have the same impact as the initial project presented to the district.

Additionally, the contractor has complied with all state laws relative to school impacts. The contractor is required to pay $2.14 per square foot of residential space and $.34 per square foot for commercial space. To date, the contractor has paid $762,285 in developer fees for the residential component of the project. A portion of these funds has been used to help fund the recent expansion at Sumac Elementary School. This contractor has gone above and beyond the minimum requirement and provided an additional $50,000 for creation of a new computer lab at Sumac Elementary School in recognition of the potential impact the project will have at this grade level.

Thank you for assisting in clearing up confusion over this matter.

Donald M. Zimring

Deputy Superintendent

Las Virgenes Unified

School District