After-School Dilemma : Disputes Stall Decision on a Use for the Long-Vacant Dapplegray Site

Closed nearly five years ago, the Dapplegray Intermediate School in Rolling Hills Estates stands vacant. Graffiti mar the building’s walls, broken doors hang ajar, windows are smashed or boarded up.

Located on a hilltop in a secluded, boots-and-saddles country environment just off of Palos Verdes Drive North, the 43-acre campus was once a public school for hundreds of youngsters from nearby affluent neighborhoods.

Now the ghostly site is buffeted by winds of controversy, an abandoned monument to frustrated plans and the competing interests of local government officials struggling with austere times.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District wants to sell the land--or at least rent it--to bring in much-needed cash to augment the school system’s red-ink stained budget. Appraisals made two years ago put a top-end value of $17 million on the campus, officials said.

The city of Rolling Hills Estates, meanwhile, wants part of the land for a park. And the City Council--unhappy because the school district has used the run-down campus as a landfill dump for rubble and dirt excavated from other school lands--has imposed strict new zoning controls on how the site can be used.

In addition, the city has threatened to prosecute school officials if they continue to use the campus as a dump site in violation of city regulations.

The school board countered the zoning change earlier this month by invoking a seldom used state law that exempts school sites from city zoning laws under certain conditions. School officials also contend the district is not subject to the city’s landfill or dumping regulations.

The controversy has stirred such strong feelings that efforts to reach some kind of compromise have stalled. Neither side seems willing to give an inch.

“This was spot zoning . . . an exercise that was done just to target the school district,” school board member Brent Goodrich said of the city’s industrial designation of the Dapplegray property. He also blamed the city for the collapse of district efforts to sell the property for residential development.

City officials say the school district is to blame for the impasse. They say the problem would have been solved had the district followed through with a preliminary agreement to give the city some of the Dapplegray site in return for approval of a plan to sell the rest to a developer.

“The school district backed out,” said City Manager Doug Prichard. Almost everyone agrees that the sprawling, tree-covered site is badly run-down and, after years of going unguarded, suffering from extensive vandalism. School officials estimate it will take $500,000 to repair the damage and clean up the site.

The district recently allotted $60,000 to hire a security service to patrol the campus and stop trash dumping by outsiders. While district officials defended their own landfill dumping on the site, they said illegal trash dumping is a problem.

The troubles at Dapplegray began in 1987. Declining enrollment and tight budgets forced the school district to close the attractive hill-top campus, officials said.

The school board wanted to sell the site. By law, it had to offer the land to other public agencies, and the city expressed an interest in acquiring 10 acres for a nominal fee. The city agreed to pay full price for an additional three acres, with plans to turn the 13 acres into a community park.

In exchange for the land, the city said it would approve the development of 61 residential lots on the remaining 30 acres if the school could find a buyer for the land. At the time, the site was zoned residential and limited to lots at least a half acre in size.

But negotiations ultimately were broken off, and no deal was reached. The Dapplegray school sat vacant while school officials tried to find a buyer or a tenant.

With no buyers in sight, school officials say they are putting all their emphasis on finding a renter. The lease price is negotiable, but school officials hope to get $300,000 a year.

City Councilwoman Jacki McGuire is among those who strongly oppose the sale of the school property.

McGuire, a teacher in the district, said: “I believe Dapplegray should remain a school site because the district may need it again someday.” She favors leasing the buildings and grounds for school or government use.

Over the objections of district officials, McGuire and a majority of the council decided in August that the city needed more control over the school site. They changed the zone from a residential classification to a newly created institutional designation.

Prichard denied that the city had singled out Dapplegray for the zone change. He said the new zone was applied to more than a dozen school, church and government properties in Rolling Hills Estates to give the city better control over land use in residential areas.

The new institutional zone allows schools, churches and government buildings in residential areas, but under controlled circumstances. The zone encourages open space and limits how these sites can be used, city officials said.

The designation also could complicate school district efforts to sell or lease the Dapplegray site. If the property is sold for home-building, the developer would have to apply for a zone change, city officials said. If a church or private school bought or leased the land, the new occupant would have to get a conditional-use permit that would include regulations on the hours of operations, occupancy limits and related matters, they said.

Angered by the city’s actions, school officials countered by filing their lawsuit in mid-August, asking the court to set the zone change aside. The suit labeled the city’s actions “arbitrary and capricious” and said new zoning seriously reduced the value of the property.

Then, two weeks ago, the school board voted to exempt itself from the zoning law.

“We have resolved the issue by using a provision in the government code that authorizes the school district to exempt property from zoning imposed by the city,” said board member Brent Goodrich.

The move caught the city by surprise. The code in question allows a public school district to exempt itself, under certain conditions, city officials acknowledged. Whether the school district meets those conditions is unclear, they said.

“The law is fuzzy,” Prichard said. The council and its lawyers will meet Tuesday behind closed doors to review the school board’s actions and plan their response, he said.