School, Museum: The Plot Thickens

What does a community need more? A high school or a museum?

While the issue of where to build Santa Ana’s next high school is much more complex, that’s the crux of the debate between the city’s school district and the Discovery Museum of Orange County.

At stake is whether Santa Ana Unified should erect a campus on a 22-acre lot it owns--which now houses two small schools and the Discovery Museum.

School officials complain that their district is so hard-pressed for classrooms that it was the first in the state to build a compact “space-saver” intermediate school next to a mall to cope with its swelling student enrollment.

Administrators believe they can build the district’s fifth comprehensive high school on the land without infringing on the museum if they reconfigure the boundaries and acquire more space from the city’s nearby park.

“We’re facing a situation where we will have 3,500 more high school students by the year 2008,” said Mike Vail, schools facilities director. “We own this property and . . . it would be a natural decision for the school board to look at this property to relieve overcrowding.”

Museum officials argue that the school district agreed to a 96-year lease, to expire in 2079, that permits the museum to operate a natural history center on a 12-acre parcel at Harvard and Fairview streets. Even more, this land is considered one of the city’s last natural treasures, museum leaders contend.

Established in 1983, the museum is noted for its rich wetlands and native plants and animal life, and the restoration of 19th century Victorian homes. A high school nearby, opponents contend, would crowd out the museum and pose environmental concerns.

“There are coyotes, squirrels and 75 species of birds that run around, fly and inhabit that area,” said Sally Sherlock, the museum’s executive director. “If a building . . . comes up with security lights at night, that will interrupt the ecosystem and I’m sure the animals will go away.”

School planners have drafted two proposals. The more ambitious plan for what would be called Centennial High School includes a building for 2,500 students, with a large library, possibly an amphitheater, an observatory, a community center and two ball parks.

Trying to sell the idea to its tenants, school officials are offering to make Centennial High an open campus, which means the museum and public would have full access.

“We’re providing services that are badly needed in the community,” school board President John Palacio said.

Museum leaders argue that they have no use for these facilities. Their educational programs involve tours of the vintage 1898 Kellogg House, a nature walk and hands-on outdoor science activities.

Even more, for the school plans to work, the district must gain about 10 acres of undeveloped land from the city’s adjacent Centennial Regional Park. City officials are keeping their distance from the controversy, saying they will not get involved until school and museum officials iron out their differences.

If they cannot gain the park grounds, school officials believe they can still carve out a smaller high school by relocating the two existing campuses--Mountain View Continuation High and Mitchell Preschool--and taking more of the museum land.

At the minimum, the museum would lose about one acre of land, school planners said. But opponents contended that such estimates are misleading because the school system actually wants to swap some of the museum’s existing space for land that now serves as a flood control channel.

Museum officials also ticked off these concerns: First, the school district doesn’t own the flood control channel--it belongs to the county. Second, the plans require that wetlands in the nature center be relocated to another spot. But artificial wetlands are usually frowned upon, environmentalists said. Finally, in a district where virtually all 48 campuses have portables, a new high school most likely will need to expand and inch closer to the museum.

“It would keep the Discovery Museum from any expansion,” said Julie Stroud, a Santa Ana resident who is advocating that the museum be unaltered. “I’m very much against any open parkland used for anything. We have very little parkland in Santa Ana.”

But the bottom line, school officials say, is that the city lacks open space for any purpose.

Consider the statistics: Santa Ana, home to roughly 320,000 residents, ranks as the ninth-largest city in the state. Unlike much of Orange County, Santa Ana is considered to be virtually developed, with fewer than 100 acres--or 1%--remaining undeveloped. And Santa Ana schools are so overburdened that a recent study showed the city would need roughly 25 new campuses to house all of its students if the schools eliminated every portable classroom and year-round academic schedules.

“It is obvious the district needs a high school,” said Cheryl Brothers, president of the museum’s board of directors. “It is not obvious that it needs to be built here.”

Some community members have suggested that school officials redevelop blighted areas to build a new school. But school officials complain it is extremely expensive to purchase new land, condemn the buildings on it, cover other costs and then build the school.

“It would be fiscally irresponsible for the school district to not use property it currently owns,” said Palacio.

Palacio said the school board aims to work cooperatively with the museum. That also means the board is determined to build a campus at that site.

If museum officials refuse to negotiate, Palacio added, the schools may take legal action. He believes certain clauses in the lease could allow the district to renegotiate its agreement.

“A school is going to be built there,” he said. “That is not a question.”