Yerba Buena Elementary School underway

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers F THEY BUILD IT—Crews lay the foundation for the new Yerba uena Elementary School serving Agoura Hills and Westlake. After years of setbacks, construction of the new Yerba Buena Elementary School in Agoura Hills finally got underway in earnest. The school is on schedule to open in 2007.

The school is estimated to cost $33 million, almost half of which will be paid for with state aid, according to Donald Zimring, deputy superintendent of the Las Virgenes Unified School District.

Concrete slabs have been poured at the site on Lindero Canyon Road. It’s expected that the buildings will be framed within a week or two, said Zimring.

The new Yerba Buena school was among the projects identified by Measure R, a facilities bond measure passed by the voters in 1998. The project, however, was mired in delays from the start. At first, skyrocketing land prices in Agoura Hills put the project on hold.

When the Las Virgenes Unified School District settled on “Lot 89,” a 30-acre parcel between Reyes Adobe and Lindero Canyon Roads, other problems arose. The district was required to place highpower voltage lines underground, and progress was further delayed when a small portion of the site was found to have soil contaminated by pesticides that had been used on a turn-of-the-century farmhouse that once stood on the land.

The bidding among contractors also failed to go smoothly. Apparently, several of the bidders were confused over the wording of the contract and didn’t include $100,000 in “allowances” for unforeseen costs in their bids.

Four contractors submitted bids, but three apparently were said to be confused by the wording. The board decided to reject all bids and reissue the bidding process with clarifications.

Problems aside, the school, which is currently next to Lindero Canyon Middle School, is now on track for completion in about a year, school officials said.