Developer’s Choice of School Site Criticized : Ritter Ranch: State officials not sold on 50-acre parcel because of its topography and proximity to San Andreas fault.

The developers of the Ritter Ranch master-planned community say they have found the ideal site for a high school within their 10,625-acre project in west Palmdale.

It’s in a relatively remote area, so noise generated by students won’t bother homeowners, officials said, adding that the view is spectacular and the developer is willing to donate the 50 acres to the Antelope Valley Union High School District.

However, the state Department of Education isn’t as concerned about the noise, view or donation issue as it is about the proximity of the San Andreas fault and the site’s topography, which would allow just one, steep access road to the school.

In fact, the state education department has said the problems are significant enough that it will not approve the current plan for a school on the site.

The concern prompted the school board to direct staff to find another site.

“I don’t know how, from the proposed plan, we could take the risk of isolating students and not being able to evacuate them,” said Betty Hanson, a consultant with the department’s school facilities planning division.

Hanson’s words carry weight. If the high school district wants any state money to build the school, it needs the state’s approval of the site, said Dwayne Brooks, the education department’s assistant superintendent/director of school facilities planning.

Even if the state Department of Education approved the site, the state Office of Local Assistance, which doles out funds to schools, said it would not pay for what it said would be extraordinary costs for access to the ridge-top site or grading.

The proposed school site is north of Elizabeth Lake Road at about 50th Street West. It is bordered on the south by the San Andreas fault and is traversed by high-voltage power lines.

Because of the state’s concerns, high school district trustees on Wednesday directed staff to “work with the developer to find another site acceptable to all parties.”

High school district engineer Rich Aitken said he will begin reviewing Ritter Ranch’s development plans in hopes of finding one or more locations for a 50-acre high school within the massive development, which is proposed to be built over two decades.

“We’ll try to agree on one and bring this to closure,” Aitken said, noting the school district recognized from the beginning that the site Ritter Ranch was offering had problems. “It’s certainly not one we would have gone out and selected.”

Yet Ritter Ranch General Manager Peter Wenner is convinced the site he has already proposed, and the state has rejected, can meet everyone’s needs.

“It’s our intent to make (the location) work,” Wenner said. “We think that site’s a perfect site. That site has no more problems associated with it than other sites the state has recently accepted.”

Furthermore, Wenner said there are few sites within the 10,625-acre Ritter Ranch that are far from the fault or on flat terrain.

Wenner said Ritter Ranch staff will address the concerns Hanson itemized in a two-page letter sent earlier this month to the school district and is confident the site at 50th Street West will prove to be acceptable.

“We think (the site) fits the needs of the community,” he said. “The items she’s expressed in her letter are items throughout Ritter. Let’s face it, Ritter isn’t flat topography.”

Wherever the high school in Ritter Ranch ends up, Wenner said the only one he will give the land for is the ridge-top location.

“If they want another site, the terms of our agreements are going to change,” he said.