Hermosa Threatens to Condemn School Site

The ongoing battle between the Hermosa Beach City Council and the city’s school district over the vacant lot where the South School once stood was stepped up a notch Tuesday, when the council threatened to condemn the school and take it through the city’s powers of eminent domain.

The suggestion--which, according to Mayor Roger Creighton, is supported by a council majority--was the latest move in a bargaining process between the two entities that has been going on for more than nine months. Although council members made no final decision on Tuesday, they agreed to take up the issue again at their meeting July 10.

Since last autumn, the city has been negotiating to buy the 4.5-acre property, with plans to convert the weed-strewn area to baseball and soccer fields. But because of a 1984 voter initiative mandating that any schools closed in Hermosa Beach be converted to open space, the property value is lower than it would be if the land were available for other uses.

The city has offered the school district more than $10 per square foot for the school site, but the district has balked, saying it can’t afford to sell the lot for less than $14.57 a square foot. Board President Mary Lou Weiss said the need for the local school system to make money from the site is particularly acute now, since education funding has been cut back this year at the state level.

Negotiations had been at an impasse for several months when the City Council on Tuesday considered a plan to obtain a new appraisal on the site. Accompanying the information outlining the cost of a new appraisal was a memo from the city attorney that mentioned the possibility of abandoning negotiations and acquiring the land through the city’s powers of eminent domain.

Weiss said the city can legally condemn the land and take it, if it can prove in court that the land is vitally needed.