HUNTINGTON BEACH : Council to Discuss Closed-School Uses

Delving into an issue that has pitted the city government against local schools, the City Council tonight will hold a study session to discuss whether it should allow development of closed school sites.

The Planning Commission and officials from the five school districts with schools in Huntington Beach are expected to attend the session, which is scheduled to precede the council’s regular 7 p.m. meeting.

At issue are 20 school sites in Huntington Beach that are either closed or will be closed by June. Financially strapped school districts want to sell or lease some of those sites to raise money. But city planners--and many residents--argue that the community cannot afford to lose the playgrounds, meeting rooms and open space that the school sites provide.

Tonight’s council discussion is expected to be the forerunner of a series of meetings in which city and school district officials will air their respective concerns and attempt to hammer out a compromise.

The city currently has no guidelines for preserving school district-owned properties or for regulating their development.

Among the 47 schools in the city limits, more than 40% are closed. School district officials say they do not plan to develop the vast majority of the closed sites, many of which are locked into long-term leases.

But two schools are now targeted for development, and city officials fear that others may soon follow.

The Fountain Valley School District hopes to sell Bushard Elementary School, near Yorktown Avenue and Brookhurst Street, for the building of 58 single-family houses.

Across town, the Huntington Beach Union High School District has plans to lease Wintersburg High School for construction of up to 296 apartments on the site. Wintersburg, a continuation high school and adult school that will be relocated this month, covers 18 acres carved out of a corner of Ocean View High School at Golden West Street and Warner Avenue.

The Planning Commission has rejected both those proposals, each of which was strongly opposed by residents concerned about losing neighborhood parkland. Both proposals are scheduled to go before the council within a month.

City and school district officials say they are hopeful that they can reach an agreement on the dispute to curb similar conflicts in the future.

Officials say that fear that should the two sides fail to reach a compromise, the clash between parkland and school funding may wind up being fought in court.