City, School District at Odds Over Parcel

City officials are standing by a City Council decision claiming rights to a piece of property that was about to revert to ownership by the local school district.

City officials are considering a response to a letter from the Las Virgenes Unified School District challenging the legality of the council’s declaration to use the property without stating a specific purpose.

The city was under the gun to meet a 10-year deadline to declare that it would use the property for a public purpose. Otherwise, the nearly 1.5-acre parcel, located on Foxfield Drive near Lindero Canyon Road, would revert to the school district under terms of a developer agreement.

In an effort to meet the May 3 deadline, the City Council approved a resolution on March 26 stating that the property would be used for an as-yet undetermined purpose.

“The city has now made a commitment to use that parcel,” said Mayor Doug Yarrow. “I’m somewhat at a loss as to the school district’s position on this. We’ve done what we had to do.”

District officials could not be reached for comment this week, but a letter submitted to the city by District Supt. John F. Fitzpatrick prior to the council’s action made the district’s opinion clear.

The resolution, the letter contended, would not satisfy the terms of the development agreement because it did not contain a binding allocation of funds to a project, nor any plans or proposals for building, nor any environmental report for a project.

The letter further warned that the city would be “vulnerable to a challenge that the district would be compelled to bring” if the council approved the resolution.

The city has considered several uses for the site, including development of a small public park and parking lot or a new permanent home for city hall. No single use has emerged as the clear choice.

However, the school district, according to the letter, considers the site “ideal” for a needed preschool facility.

Yarrow said that any legal challenge to the city’s decision could be financially risky to the school district.

“I’m very confident in the city’s position,” Yarrow said. “I can’t underscore that enough.”