Decision Is Delayed on Wood Ranch : Simi Valley: School officials learn that land the district owns and wants to sell could be worth $30 million.

Simi Valley school officials on Tuesday postponed a decision on whether to sell 1,800 acres of Wood Ranch property, saying the value of the land could be more than double the $12 million a developer has estimated it is worth.

The property has been turned over to the Simi Valley Unified School District in a deal struck with the Wood Ranch developer in January. Under that agreement, the district received the undeveloped land instead of a new school in the 3,000-acre planned community southeast of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

At that time, school officials discussed either selling the 620 empty housing lots or working with developers to build and sell homes.

On Tuesday, however, the board put off a decision on whether to sell the land after a Bank of America vice president urged them to hire an independent consultant and get a more detailed analysis of the property’s value.

“It’s very easy for an uninformed seller to be taken to the cleaners,” said Steven C. Walton. He warned that if the school district sold the land at a greatly undervalued price, it would cause property values throughout Wood Ranch to drop.

“You’ll affect real estate values in that end of Simi Valley for the next 12 years,” Walton said. Like the school district, the Bank of America became a large landowner in Wood Ranch after the developer turned over property to satisfy debts.

Board member Diane Collins also urged her colleagues to delay the sale, saying she had spoken to a developer not involved in the land deal who told her that home lots in the area could sell for as much as $50,000 apiece. At that price, the district’s 620 lots could be worth about $30 million.

Collins said the district needs to look at other options for building the school and keeping the land until real estate prices go up. For instance, she said, the district might consider holding onto the land and borrowing against its value to finance the school.

“Common sense tells you when the economy is bad, you don’t want to sell your prized possession,” Collins said.

Before Walton addressed the board, parents had urged board members to proceed with the sale so that construction of the 500-student Wood Ranch Elementary school could get under way. Officials estimate it will take two years to build the $6-million school, needed to ease crowding at Madera Elementary School.

However, after the questions were raised about whether the district’s $12-million asking price would lower property values, some parents said they supported the decision to seek more information before taking a vote.

“We have to make sure that in selling the property to build a school, we enhance the Wood Ranch community, not further (lower) the value,” said Wood Ranch resident Ron Robinson.

Until a new school is built, officials are considering using five existing buildings on a slice of land included in the deal for a temporary elementary school. The converted homes and cottages could house 120 students from kindergarten through third grade.

The district’s estimate that the property is worth $12 million was based on an independent analysis.