YORBA LINDA : School District, City Work Out Gym Deal

School district and city officials have reached an agreement over the use of a planned gymnasium to be built between Yorba Linda Middle School and Hurless Barton Park.

The pact gives Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District use of the facility during school hours and after school until 5 p.m. on school days. The city will get the gym after 5 p.m. during the week and on weekends and holidays.

The agreement was approved Tuesday by the City Council and the district’s Board of Trustees. Groundbreaking for the project is scheduled for Sept. 24, and city officials expect the gym to be completed by next summer.

Negotiations between the district and the city bogged down this summer when the district objected to the city’s method of financing the $2.5-million project. District officials contended that, although the city wanted to use redevelopment money it had agreed to give the district to pay for the gym, the district would not be a co-owner of the facility.

Although that issue has not been settled and the district is still considering a lawsuit to decide how the redevelopment money should be spent, both sides agreed to put the subject of money aside for now.

Two other obstacles to a concord were removed when the city dropped its request for a strip of district-owned land behind City Hall as part of the project and removed a clause that would allow the city to evict the district from the facility without cause after one year.

“That was a reasonable concern,” said Assistant City Manager David Gruchow. “We changed that aspect. Now the city can only evict for cause such as breach of contract.”