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::: COMMUNITY NEWS School district and landowner again at odds over plans for new school Corrected
Saturday, February, 17, 2007 Emotions ran high at the school district's meeting on the new elementary school Monday as encouraging news about the school's progress was eclipsed by the property owner's second thoughts about donating the site. "Despite the rosy picture that's being painted, I think we're a long ways away from having a school. … I don't understand how you go forward with designing a project on something you don't have an agreement," landowner Paul Frank told school officials and an audience of about 30. Frank also referred to unresolved water and sewer issues he said are long-standing problems for the project. The school district hopes to break ground this spring and open the school in the fall of 2008.
Consultant Constantine I. Baranoff, retired associate superintendent for facilities and planning for the Elk Grove Unified School District, told the group that plans for the new Cosumnes River Elementary School facility are complete and are being reviewed by the state architect's office. Additionally, plans for the realignment of a section of Stonehouse Road have been drawn and are in the "90 percent-plus stage" of final county review, he said. Frank made the offer to donate 15 acres of his family's 220-acre property on Stonehouse Road last year after failing to come to an agreement with the school district on the location of the school site and the value of the property. Frank's proposal called for a realignment of Stonehouse Road to create a new intersection with Jackson Road at Lone Pine Drive. The abandoned strip of roadway would become part of the school site and eliminate the need for Murieta children to cross Stonehouse Road to reach the school. The realignment preserved the Frank family's plans to develop about a dozen homes around the existing lake on their property, and provided access for the 20-acre site the Franks had already donated to the Rancho Murieta Community Church. The meetings at the school district headquarters in Elk Grove began last year as a public forum to evaluate Frank's proposal and to fast-track the planning process. They were also intended to allay community suspicions about the district's commitment to a new school, which has been in question during the long struggle to replace the present overcrowded school. Cosumnes Elementary is on heavily trafficked Highway 16 west of Rancho Murieta. The school, built in 1948, sits on a four-acre site, the smallest in the district. At Monday's session, Frank referred to the acquisition proposal letter he said he'd received from the school district the week before, saying it failed to meet the conditions of his donation for earth-tone colors for roofs and buildings and retention of the Cosumnes River name. The letter requests 14.44 acres for the school site and an additional three to five acres for mitigation or drainage uses. But Frank made it clear the real bone of contention is a requirement to reimburse half the school district's costs for the new section of Stonehouse Road where the church and other development projects are planned. The total cost for the new section of roadway is estimated at $4.7 million, which includes relocation of power and phone lines, construction costs and wetlands mitigation. Baranoff said the county and the state are each expected to pay around $1 million of the cost. "We're looking for the development that would occur prospectively on the west side of Stonehouse to ultimately be responsible for $1.4 million," Baranoff said. "This is shocking," said Frank. "I'm a developer. Usually when you pursue a project you get the deal-killer points first. Had (someone said) a week into this 11 months ago… 'Sure, we're going to take your donation of the property, but we're going to want $1.4 million too,' I would have said, 'I don't think we're going to do that,' and it would have saved all of us a lot of time." When he was in the process of buying the Stonehouse Road property in 2003, Frank described himself as "a landowner that happens to be a developer" and said he had no plans to subdivide the property. The Franks have built a family home at the top of a hill at the opposite end of the property from the school site. At
Monday's meeting,
Frank said he was approached last summer about developing the property
as part of Murieta West, a project that proposes to extend the
urban services boundary beyond Rancho Murieta and add 400 to
600 homes to the community. He said his goal is to build a mini-storage
facility on his property. When the Murieta West proposal was made public last June, the Stonehouse Road realignment was represented as an important element of the project. Judging by their questions and comments, some audience members were familiar with the road improvement reimbursement issue before Frank began to speak about it Monday. Several characterized the district's $1.4 million charge as "extortion" and "a deal-breaker." Frank has posted the proposal on his web site, www.school4murieta.com. As he talked about areas where the district had come up short in the land acquisition process, Frank glanced in the direction of school board trustee Brian Myers, seated at the side of the room, and remarked, "I also requested, which has been adhered to to this point, that Brian Myers not be a part of this project because of the pain he has put my wife and I through." Before Frank made the donation proposal to the district, he and Myers sparred publicly in a war of words about the school site and the value of the property, which was appraised at $336,000 for 14.3 acres a year ago. When the school board accepted Frank's donation proposal last July, Myers said he had "complete support" for the plan. On Monday, Frank remained seated while he spoke because of back pain and said several times that he wasn't able to stay for the entire meeting because he was picking up his daughter. It turned out to be a dramatic exit. Superintendent Steven M. Ladd, who presided over the meeting with Baranoff, was taking comments from the audience late in the session when he recognized Myers' desire to speak. "We've come a long way in this process and I'd just hate to have everybody walking out of the room shaking their heads and saying it's bogged down, so I'm looking out for a solution," Myers began. Noticing Frank preparing to leave, Myers said, "And I would ask you, Mr. Frank, if you would just listen to what I want to say for a moment." "You know what, with all due respect, I've had enough. Thank you all very much," Frank said as he moved past the table where Myers was standing and headed for the door. The audience applauded. After Frank left and the applause died down, Myers continued, "This $1.4 million -- if Paul Frank, the homeowner, the property owner, never develops his property, it would never come due, he'd never have to pay it. The $1.4 is what we do everywhere in the district when a developer … moves into the commercial side. … That's the rule. … But, that being said, he has gifted us property, and we should recognize how important that is." Joe Mazzoni Sr. suggested the issue could be "easily resolved. … deal with (Frank) in a way that's fair to him, particularly given the fact that he's donated the property …I don't want to leave here with feelings of negativity." Ladd said the district can't use taxpayer dollars "for private benefit, nor do we want to ignore the generous benefit of a landowner to give us property for a school." Fairness would require finding "common ground," he said, and the district will not walk away from the project. "I started this process standing in front of you and I'll end the process standing in front of you one way or the other," he pledged. "As far as negotiations, the district has had very difficult negotiations for other acquisitions," Baranoff said. "These are normal activities that go on … there are some issues that need to be worked out. … They are difficult." Baranoff said the draft agreement would be refined, and address points that emerged during the meeting to come up with a resolution. The next meeting was tentatively scheduled for May 15 and changed to Feb. 26 several days later. Other topics covered at the meeting included: Water and sewer Community Services District General manager Ed Crouse said the challenges the district faces in providing service to the school are short-term. "Long-term there's a solution out there" and it is in the best interests of the community and the school district if the school is connected to CSD services, he said. Crouse said carryover storage is the short-term hurdle for providing sewer service, and the CSD is addressing the problem. He said an on-site treatment system for wastewater
operated by the CSD may be an option. Fire flow demands increased when the classroom building went to a two-story design, Crouse said. Costs The cost for the school still exceeds the norm,
said Baranoff, although some gains have been made. Thanks to the passage of Proposition 1D in November, $1.5 million to more than $2 million will be available for site development and building costs, according to Baranoff. Other cost-saving measures include reusing design components from other schools, incorporating cost containment features in the kindergarten, and refining material and labor costs. Pedestrian access Pedestrian access is a detail that will be addressed and consist of a walkway, Baranoff said. Artist's renderings of the school are available here.
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