Talks With Developer May Lead to State-of-Art School

Residents of the newly developed Holly Seacliff neighborhood who feared their children would have to attend an all-portable elementary school may soon have good news.

Negotiations between the Huntington Beach City School District and Newport Beach developer PLC Land Co. may allow children in one of the city’s most costly neighborhoods to attend the state-of-the-art, permanent school originally promised.

School district officials said they are “cautiously optimistic” they will have the funds for a permanent school on 8.3 acres near Garfield Avenue and Seabrook Lane.

“We’re really close and everyone is trying hard,” Huntington Beach City School District president Brian F. Garland said.

Financial terms being negotiated were not disclosed.

Graham Jones, chief financial officer of PLC, said the company and district are working to build a school as close to the original design as possible.

District officials in July warned they were short at least $4 million for the two-story school. Trustees unanimously approved a new campus of portable buildings, with no money left for playgrounds or a paved parking lot.

Officials had been counting on about $13.5 million in developer fees from a 1992 agreement with the Chevron Co., which proposed 4,250 homes. Developer PLC, which took over the project from Chevron last year, proposed 2,400 homes, which lowered the district’s fee income to less than $9.5 million.

Supt. Duane Dishno said the permanent school, planned to accommodate 600 students in kindergarten through fifth grade, could open by September 1999.

Resident Howard Rosen said he always knew an agreement for a permanent school would be reached: “When you look at the people here--paying the highest taxes in Huntington Beach along with the Mello Roos fees--they’re not going to send their children to a Porta Potti school.”