Catholic vs. Public School: Feud Is Brewing Over Site

Two school organizations, one private and one public, appear headed for collision this fall as both look toward building a school on the same choice chunk of San Juan Capistrano land.

Boosters for a new Catholic high school have raised millions of dollars, with hopes of going before the City Council in the fall with their building plans for Junipero Serra High School. Even as they do so, though, the Capistrano Unified School District is conducting soil tests on the land, with an eye toward considering eminent-domain proceedings by September to obtain the acreage for a middle school.

Junipero Serra founders are preparing for a fight.

“We have a mission to build a Roman Catholic school at that site, and we are not going to accept eminent domain,” said Tim Busch, who chairs the board of directors for Junipero Serra High School. “We will use whatever power we might have to defend our holding of the property, including public or private outcry.”

Right now, the private school has dibs on the 35 acres at Rancho Capistrano, the sprawling south campus for the Crystal Cathedral. Junipero Serra founders said it’s the only piece of land in the area zoned for an educational institution that’s large enough for everything they want to build.

The private school’s proposed features include an Olympic-quality aquatics center with a diving pool; a 600-seat performing arts center; an eight-court tennis complex; football stadium and track; separate baseball, softball and soccer fields; and a chapel.

But that also would be the perfect site for a middle school that would relieve crowding at two nearby campuses, said David Doomey, Capistrano Unified’s assistant superintendent of facilities planning.

Unlike private schools, public school systems can build in areas that aren’t specifically zoned for educational institutions. However, Doomey said, there are few suitable sites around.

“In San Juan Capistrano, most of the land has already been developed, and very few pieces of land are readily available,” Doomey said. “We’ve been searching for nearly 15 years for a school site in San Juan Capistrano.”

The district is still testing and conducting other environmental reviews, which are expected to be done within four to eight weeks. If the tests pass the district staff’s muster, the board will be asked to decide on eminent domain.

“So far, we have not uncovered anything that would preclude us from pursuing the site for a future middle school,” Doomey said.

The private group hopes to bring plans before the city for approval in the fall, begin construction in early 2002, and open for classes in fall 2002--if the district doesn’t take the land away. That decision could be made later this summer.

The Catholic group three years ago began planning the school at Rancho Capistrano, a 175-acre retreat center off Interstate 5, and negotiated with the Crystal Cathedral to purchase about 30 acres of undeveloped land, Busch said.

The cost for the campus is expected to reach $70 million, all of which would be raised through private donations. The group has raised $10 million in the last seven months.

In addition to its academic curriculum, the school would teach Catholicism in the Roman Catholic tradition but be run by a lay board with oversight from the Diocese of Orange. Eventually, founders said, the school would admit 1,800 students in eighth through 12th grades. But it would likely open with just an eighth and a ninth grade.

Serra High backers have been pushing hard to raise funds and create ties to other organizations.

“We’ve been working with a lot of people in the private sector, like the Orange County Performing Arts Center, getting their thoughts on what we’re doing,” said Lisa Tremble, Junipero Serra’s director of marketing. “We want to work in conjunction with them, and if they want to have some type of performance there or work with students, they can.”

Junipero Serra supporters don’t plan to see that work go down the drain.

“We think this is a true property-rights issue,” Busch said. “We support public education, but go find another piece of property to build on because you’ve got a lot more liberal rights than we do, and you can find another piece of property easier than we can.”