HUNTINGTON BEACH : Project Delayed for School Site Selection

Plans for the sprawling Holly-Seacliff development have been held up while state, city and school district officials sort out where a new elementary school for the area will be located.

At the request of Duane Dishno, superintendent of the Huntington Beach City School District, the Planning Commission last week delayed its consideration of the bulk of the 780-acre project in the north-central part of the city.

District authorities for months have been negotiating details of the future school site with officials from the city and Pacific Coast Homes, which is developing most of the Holly-Seacliff project. Pacific Coast Homes is a home-building subsidiary of the Huntington Beach Co., the city’s largest and most influential private landowner.

Three Garfield Avenue sites east of Edwards Street have been proposed for a new school, which would accommodate 600 students from residences in the heart of the development.

School board trustees have not formally endorsed any of the proposed sites, but Dishno said he prefers an 11-acre parcel on the south side of Garfield Avenue at Edwards Street.

As planned, half of that site would serve as both a city park and as the school’s recreation area. So, to secure that property, the district would have to buy only the other half, saving millions of dollars, Dishno said.

Dishno and other school officials are quick to note, however, that they have not ruled out the other two locations, an 8.5-acre site to the north of the preferred property and a 10-acre parcel to the east.

The district has yet to receive word from state officials on whether any of the three sites is suitable for a school. The state has the final say in the matter.

Based on preliminary studies, state officials are concerned that earthquake faults might run beneath some or all of the sites, Dishno said. Offshoots of the Newport-Inglewood fault are known to run through the vicinity, but it has not yet been determined whether any cross beneath the proposed school sites, he said.

Until the state has made its ruling--and until the district works out a financial package with Pacific Coast Homes--district officials do not want to commit to a specific location, Dishno said. Those matters should be worked out by Oct. 8, when the Planning Commission is scheduled to reconsider the Holly-Seacliff project, he said.

“The next two weeks will tell the tale,” Dishno said. “Either we will make major progress or we will have stalled.”