HUNTINGTON BEACH : Wintersburg Project Decision Is Delayed

Planning Commission members, torn between possibly killing a development they consider unacceptable and helping a financially ailing school district, have delayed action on a project planned for the Wintersburg High School site.

Commission members said at last week’s meeting that they strongly oppose the development plans but agreed not to reject the proposal outright because of the school district’s concerns.

The development plans on the 18-acre site next to Ocean View High School call for 260 condominiums, a 2-acre shopping center and a new 2-acre facility for the school district’s headquarters.

But city staff recommended rejection of the plans after concluding that the area’s water supplies could not accommodate that many new residents and that sewer facilities could not handle the additional waste water. Also, according to the staff members, 7 acres of Ocean View’s athletic fields would be lost, and traffic, noise and smog could be expected to rise dramatically.

Huntington Beach Union High School District officials, who have been planning the project for nearly four years, will meet with city planners in hopes of salvaging the project before the commission reconsiders it next month.

Some planning commissioners criticized the school district for seeking a “quick fix” of its financial woes at the expense of the city’s overall interest.

“There is a difference in philosophy between the needs of the school district and the needs of the city,” Commissioner Susan Newman said. “We’re getting to the point in this city that we just can’t stuff any more sardines in the can.”

Commissioner Victor Leipzig also said the proposal is flawed.

“The only reason I give this any consideration is because of the severe financial bind of the school district,” said Leipzig, an instructor at Golden West College.

The school district is counting on the Wintersburg development to provide it with more than $1 million in additional income each year from leasing the property. The district’s revenue from the lease agreement would escalate over time, almost doubling every 10 years.

“This is really substantial for the long-term financial health of the district,” school board President Bonnie Castrey said.

The high school district has been among the most financially strapped districts in Orange County. Declining enrollment, coupled with statewide funding cuts, has forced the district to slash its budget by $29 million in the past 13 years, including about $14 million in the past five years.

The school district is expected to cut an additional $3 million from its budget this spring, which officials say may place some vital education programs on the chopping block.

If the Wintersburg project falls through, the loss of projected income may force the district to reconsider closing one of its six regular high schools, an option the school board has desperately tried to avoid in recent years.

In 1988, the school board agreed to relocate the continuation school and other services at Wintersburg and develop that site as a last-ditch maneuver to avoid closing a high school.

Despite years of meetings about the project with city planners, district Supt. David Hagen said that he and other district officials had no idea until recently that city staff members strongly objected to it.

“This has all come up in the last six weeks,” Hagen said. “That was the first time (the potential loss of) open space became a problem.”