Santa Ana District Gets ‘Space-Saver’ School OK : Education: Untried program will be tested. State panel rejects criticism that Bristol MarketPlace site is too costly.

A state panel gave the green light Wednesday to the Santa Ana Unified School District’s experimental space-saver school proposal, rejecting criticism from local residents and state real estate experts that the project will prove too costly.

The State Allocation Board, which disburses funds for school sites and construction, voted unanimously to approve an appraisal of an 11-acre site in Santa Ana’s Bristol MarketPlace shopping complex, where the school district hopes to build the first space-saver school in the state.

“This is a major relief,” said Robert W. Balen, a member of the Santa Ana school board. “I’m extremely glad we could do this for the schoolkids in our district.”

But critics pointed to a report by state real estate experts suggesting the Bristol MarketPlace parcel was up to five times more costly than several other sites--in part because two existing stores will have to be demolished--and too risky because of toxic contamination from leaky gas tanks at an auto center on the property. The report said the parcel will cost $40 a square foot compared to $8 to $15 a square foot at other sites.

“I think the board made a bad decision,” said Santa Ana Councilwoman Lisa Mills, who led the fight against the project. “What is the purpose of this board if not to ensure the proper use of public funds?”

The still-untested state space-saver program is designed to find school sites in crowded cities, such as Santa Ana, that are experiencing a space crunch. Instead of resorting to condemnation proceedings to tear down neighborhoods, the program allows districts to apply for funds to build multistory schools in conjunction with existing commercial centers, parks or other unique sites.

State officials first approved the idea in the late 1980s, but no school district has yet been able to come up with a workable plan to capitalize on it. Santa Ana school officials, facing a shortage of space for 18,000 students by the end of this decade, have worked eagerly to become the state’s first district to successfully tap into the program.

But during a brief exchange with the allocation board, Mills argued that the seven-member panel was ignoring provisions of the law that do not allow a space-saver school when more affordable sites are available.

“To spend $40 a foot and tear down a new HomeBase building is not a good use of the taxpayers’ dollars,” she said.

Allocation board members rejected the notion that they should become embroiled in a local political dispute between Santa Ana school district officials and residents of neighborhoods surrounding the project.

State Sen. Marian Bergeson (R-Newport Beach), who sits on the allocation board and lobbied heavily on behalf of Santa Ana school officials for the space-saver project, said that opponents had “contaminated” the allocation effort with “misinformation.”

“I think the public should have faith in the process that was used,” Bergeson said after the decision. “There’s been a lot of misunderstandings, but I think it has been dealt with responsibly.”

Balen and other Santa Ana school officials, meanwhile, argued that the threat of toxic contamination had been overblown by critics. District officials say there has been no ground-water contamination and that the property owner has agreed to clean up the gas spill.

Before approving the project, the allocation board added several provisions to ensure the contamination has been cleaned up and make the seller responsible if problems crop up in the future because of the contamination.

District officials also contend that cheaper sites had been deemed unsuitable as candidates for the space-saver program, an effort to combine schools with businesses and other uses in congested cities, where undeveloped land is hard to come by. Before giving its blessing in October, the state Department of Education concluded there were only three other sites within the city suitable for an intermediate school, but all were too isolated.

“It’s obvious there are cheaper parcels, but none had the right combination of size, location, configuration or a willing property owner,” Balen said.

Although the property’s final price tag has not been hammered out, the state set aside nearly $23 million last year to buy the parcel in Bristol MarketPlace, a shopping center at 17th and Bristol streets. To make way for the school, an existing HomeBase store and a Montgomery Wards automotive center will have to be demolished. Plans call for a two-story intermediate school to be built atop a parking lot that will used by shopping center customers.

State Sen. Leroy Greene (D-Carmichael), an allocation board member and author of the bill that paved the way for the space-saver program, said the Bristol MarketPlace site “frankly doesn’t meet the image of the law as I envisioned it.” But he argued that Santa Ana school officials had properly followed the allocation board’s guidelines for selecting the property and would be getting money years sooner than had they applied under traditional school-funding procedures.