Korenstein Seeks Tougher Rule on School Sites : Porter Ranch: The school board member wants to ensure that the developer sets aside land for schools after the year 2000.

West San Fernando Valley school board member Julie Korenstein will seek board approval today for a resolution asking the Los Angeles City Council to make it easier for the school district to buy land from developers of the proposed $2-billion Porter Ranch project.

Korenstein in her resolution calls for the Los Angeles City Council to require Porter Ranch developers to set aside land for schools until at least half of the project’s 3,395 houses and townhouses are occupied.

That would allow Los Angeles Unified School District officials to more accurately predict how many new classroom seats will be needed for the area, Korenstein said.

Under the Porter Ranch proposal approved by the council’s Planning and Land Use Committee in December, developers are only required to hold the land for purchase by the district until the end of the year 2000. After that, the land can be used for purposes other than schools.

“If the developer takes longer to build the project, we’re going to be up the creek,” Korenstein said.

The 1,300-acre development proposed for the hills north of the Simi Valley Freeway in Chatsworth still requires the approval of the City Council, which is expected to begin its review later this month.

If approved, the project by Beverly Hills developer Nathan Shapell would be the largest in the city’s history.

Korenstein’s motion asks that developers be required to keep a seven-acre elementary school site available for three years after half of the Porter Ranch homes have been occupied. It calls for an additional 15 acres to be set aside for a junior high or high school for three years after 75% of the new homes are occupied.

Paul Clarke, a project spokesman, said it is impossible to predict when the Porter Ranch homes would be finished and occupied. “That’s up to the market,” he said.

Clarke said he does not expect any changes to be made in the conditions approved by the council committee last month because of school board pressure. “We’re happy with the current agreement,” he said.

Korenstein’s resolution, which is only advisory, also asks the City Council to strike a condition requiring the district to reopen either the Devonshire or Rinaldi elementary schools before it can buy the Porter Ranch land. Those schools were closed in 1982 because of declining enrollment.

Korenstein said the closed schools are too far from the Porter Ranch development to serve elementary school-age children who move into the new homes. Devonshire, the closer of the two school sites, is more than four miles away, she said.