SAN CLEMENTE : District Offers Trade for New High School

A simple matter of arithmetic may determine the fate of 26-year-old San Clemente High School.

Capistrano Unified School District officials are currently talking with Newport Beach-based Agora Development about the possibility of a trade: the 43-acre high school campus next to Interstate 5 for a new school on a new campus elsewhere in the city.

“Our interest is very great. The whole thing boils down to whether the numbers work for the developer,” Supt. Jerome Thornsley said.

At today’s costs, replacing the campus would cost a builder up to $35 million, he estimated, not including the land.

“We would want a brand-new school with a similar design that houses about 2,000 students,” Thornsley said. San Clemente High School was designed to hold about 1,800 students.

From a developer’s standpoint, the school’s main attraction is its freeway-close location, Thornsley said.

“Some developers consider it a prime location,” he said. “In exchange, we would get a brand-new, 1990s-era high school with all the amenities. It’s certainly a fine campus now, but its age is becoming more of a maintenance problem for us.”

Before any project could be undertaken, city officials would also have to agree to the move. Jim Holloway, San Clemente’s community development director, said he understands the logic of the proposal but questions its feasibility.

“Whether or not it’s feasible, whether the numbers add up--that’s the big question,” Holloway said. “If it was done right and designed right, it would make a lot of sense. But it’s going to have to work for everybody, and that’s often a pretty tough thing to do.”

The city would closely study the commercial tax base that would be generated, the traffic impact of any new commercial center and the school’s aesthetics and design, Holloway said.

“Those are the big three from our point of view,” he said.

Such arrangements between developers and school districts, called “turnkey” agreements, have been made before in the county. Irvine Unified School District has accomplished such a deal, and the current Brea-Olinda High School was built with this type of plan, Thornsley said.

“As long as this is done at no charge to us, we can get state approval,” he said. “We can put no money into the project.”

Three locations for a new school have been discussed, including two just off Avenida Pico, east of the current high school location. Both would be near the proposed 5,000-home Talega Valley planned community.

Thornsley said preliminary talks with the city have been positive.

“The city has left the door open for us,” he said.