Houses can be built on former LeBard school site, Planning Commission agrees

The Huntington Beach City School District is a step closer to selling its headquarters to make way for single-family homes, though neighbors remain concerned about traffic and parking related to the project.

City planning commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to recommend City Council approval of the project, which aims to rezone the former LeBard Elementary School campus, at 20451 Craimer Lane, to allow for the construction of 15 single-family homes. The project also would permit the city to buy and retain 6.2 acres of baseball fields used by Seaview Little League.

“There’s been a lot of meetings, discussions and plans that have evolved … to bring us to where we are today,” school district Supt. Gregg Haulk said.

Though the project has gone through several iterations in the past seven years in an effort to please the parties involved, neighborhood traffic and parking continue to raise concerns.

Many residents worry that street parking will increase when the school site, which provides several dozen parking spaces, is converted into homes.

The district’s plan called for converting a portion of LeBard Park, next to the baseball fields, into 17 parking spaces. However, in a 6 to 1 straw vote, planning commissioners opted not to recommend doing so, preferring to preserve the open space. Commissioner Michael Hoskinson dissented.

“I personally believe the idea of ‘Once you pave it, it’s gone forever,’” Commission Chairman Dan Kalmick said. “I have very rarely seen a parking lot jackhammered up and reverted back into a park.”

Resident Kent Hayden and several of his neighbors recommended that open space on the west side of the Little League fields be turned into a parking lot.

“The plan would be a very good compromise by all concerned parties involved,” Hayden said.

However, other residents and Seaview Little League representatives objected.

Seaview President Scott Dater said the space west of the fields is used by the T-ball and coach-pitch teams for practice.

“We don’t have enough baseball field space for those kids to practice,” he said. “If we make that whole area asphalt, I’ve got nowhere to send them.”

In an effort to find more parking in the area, the Planning Commission suggested that the city negotiate with Southern California Edison, which has a 1.9-acre easement east of LeBard Park.

Dave Dominguez, the city’s facilities manager, said Edison typically does not allow its easements to be used for permanent parking spaces. However, the city could periodically request temporary use for parking, he said.

The number of vehicles traveling through the neighborhood as a result of housing being added also has been a longstanding concern. Resident Ashley White said she believes the project’s traffic study is flawed. She characterized as unrealistic the projection that the 15 additional homes would yield only 16 more car trips per day in and out of the neighborhood.

Moreover, White said she’s more concerned about the speed at which motorists travel through the neighborhood.

The Planning Commission decided to ask council members to look into measures to slow traffic such as speed bumps and signs.

The school district has been looking to sell the former LeBard school site since 2008. It plans to repair the former Kettler Elementary School, at 8750 Dorsett Drive, and use it as the new district headquarters.