Farm Sale to Fund Sports Facilities at High Schools

Both high schools in Costa Mesa will get better sports facilities through the sale of the Costa Mesa High School farm.

Trustees of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District recently voted to spend $500,000 of the farm sale proceeds to begin work on a new pool at Costa Mesa High School and on a new sports complex at Estancia High School.

Students and parents at both schools have complained for years that their sports facilities were inferior to those at Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor high schools. Since the district sold the farmland surrounding Costa Mesa High School last fall, parents and students have lobbied the board to spend some of the $7.1 million of the proceeds on repairing the aging pools and fields at the schools in Costa Mesa.

Trustee Jim Ferryman said $500,000 is seed money to get the projects started. The board will ask community groups and perhaps the city of Costa Mesa to contribute the rest.

Most of the farm-sale proceeds will be used to pay for repairs at schools throughout Newport Beach and Costa Mesa, which have been postponed because of budget problems. Officials estimate they need approximately $15 million to fix roofs and parking lot pot holes and make other repairs.