Council OKs Plan for Christian School

A proposal to convert half of the former Eaton Corp. facility into a four-year Christian high school was unanimously approved by the Westlake Village City Council, officials said Thursday.

The Calvary Community Church bought the 35-acre site a year ago and in turn sold half of the property to the Price Family Foundation, which presented plans Wednesday for a coed high school.

“We felt like the greater Los Angeles area needed a good, solid Christian high school,” said Kris Thabit, a representative of the new Calvary Christian High School.

At the same time the foundation was scouting for a school site, the Calvary congregation, which now meets in nearby Thousand Oaks, was looking for a partner to help with its move to the Eaton site.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the council also approved an oak tree permit and a development permit to allow conversion of the facility on La Tienda Drive. The foundation plans to remove 14 oak trees as part of construction, but has agreed to replace them with 56 oaks.

Grading and construction of the school is expected to begin in May, and officials hope to be able to begin classes for as many as 1,000 students in September 1999, Thabit said. The foundation plans to add a sports complex and reconfigure the existing 12,000-square-foot office building for use as the primary classroom and administrative office facility.

The building would house about 56 classrooms and labs and a library on the first two floors, and an art studio, music rooms and bookstore in the basement.

The campus also will have a new 30,500-square-foot athletic building, with a gymnasium for 1,300 spectators, swimming pools, a track/football/soccer stadium and baseball and softball fields.

The project will be funded by the nonprofit Price Family Foundation, a group founded by the owners of American Golf Corp.