Calabasas seeks site for new elementary school

By Michael Picarella pic@theacorn.com

The Calabasas City Council discussed a plan last week to seek a site for a new elementary school in the city and, with input from the Las Virgenes Unified School District (LVUSD), will decide on Wed., Dec. 15 whether to abandon a location behind gates.

New Millennium Homes is building The Oaks, a 550-single-family-home gated development at the western end of Parkway Calabasas. The developer had planned to build an elementary school on eight acres of city land in the project area but will instead build seven homes on the site if the council votes yes on an agreement on the 15th.

According to the proposed agreement involving the city, LVUSD and New Millennium Homes, the developer and the school district will relinquish their option to build a school in The Oaks. A total of $4 million that was set aside for the initial project would be put into a trust fund for acquiring a site to build a school.

"In order to generate more money to be able to purchase a replacement school site, we came upon the idea that New Millennium would be willing to modify their grading plan to grade seven more lots there," said Calabasas City Manager Tony Coroalles. "There’s an eight-acre site right now dedicated for a school. New Millennium will take four acres of that and put it somewhere else—not at the same location—but somewhere else in New Millennium for a community park. And then they’ll take another four acres somewhere else and grade those four acres into seven lots.

"Then they’ll take the eight acres in the school site and grade those also for lots," Coroalles said. "In terms of open space, what we allowed them to do is to grade seven more lots and for that we get an additional $4 million into the trust fund."

The agreement accumulates $8 million of non-taxpayer money into a trust fund that the city and the school district will jointly agree to spend to acquire a site and build a school, said Calabasas City Attorney Michael Colantuono. "Both partners to that collaboration have to be in an agreement on the school site."

According to Colantuono, LVUSD will try to generate more cash for such a project by agreeing to propose a bond for the November election.

LVUSD doesn’t have the funds to build a new school, the city attorney said. But the area needs a new campus. District officials said that the existing elementary schools in the city are overcrowded with students and vehicular traffic.

According to Colantuono, the school district, the city and the residents all seem to want a new school in an appropriate location that meets the needs of the community, addresses traffic and addresses educational needs.

"(City) staff is recommending this agreement because they think the odds of pursuing this collaboration with the school district is more likely to produce a better outcome than not," Colantuono told members of the public last week at the council meeting.

If an alternative site is not located within five years, the trust fund will be split, according to Coroalles.

"This agreement does state some preferences about where a school will be sited," Colantuono said. "The first preference is in eastern Calabasas, which is not very precisely defined. It includes both incorporated and unincorporated land."

The second preference would be a site in western Calabasas, the city attorney said. The third preference is the possibility of creating a magnet school on an existing campus that would draw students from throughout the school district. The last preference is to give up on the possibility of a new school site and split the trust fund money for general fund purposes.

The public hearing last week didn’t include any specific discussion regarding locations of a new school site. That will be a topic of discussion in the future, according to Calabasas Mayor Michael Harrison.

Reports on this matter can be obtained at city hall or on the website at www.cityofcalabasas.com on the city council’s Dec. 1 agenda. Calabasas City Hall is at 26135 Mureau Road. Call (818) 878-4225 for more information.