FULLERTON : Leasing of Campus Space to Be Studied

As a way to raise money, Fullerton School District officials next week will consider the specifics of leasing space on a school campus to businesses.

School district officials would like to lease space for commercial activities on the Brookhurst Road side of Orangethorpe Elementary School while classes continue on the rest of the school grounds.

The school board signed a contract last month with Newport Resource Management of Newport Beach to look at ways the commercially valuable land could be leased out, using the income to pay for some of the $4 million in backlogged maintenance needed for district schools and buildings.

The study is expected to take about a month. If the board decides to lease out a portion of the land, some of the classroom buildings might be rebuilt on the quieter east end of the campus, school officials have said.

“Leasing excess land is becoming a more prudent way for school districts to generate revenue,” said Rush N. Hill II, chairman of Newport Resource Management.

Instead of raising taxes, which voters have consistently said they don’t want, school districts can earn money by finding land that commercial ventures might be interested in leasing on a long-term basis, Hill said. That way, he said, the district earns money but keeps the land in case it is needed later.

Before state legislation in 1987, school districts earning money through such ventures usually had to give it to the state, Hill said. The new law, which encourages all school districts to begin joint public-private ventures on unused land, allows school districts to keep the lease income.

School districts in California have leased out both vacant parcels and portions of school sites, such as large athletic fields, that were going unused, he said. The trick is finding a commercial venture that would fit in with activities permitted on the property.

“We’ve not yet run into conditions where compatibility could not be achieved,” Hill said.