Dublin Schools Spend $38M For Future High School Site

DUBLIN, CA — The Dublin Unified School District Board of Trustees agreed to shell out $38 million for a privately owned 23-acre lot that will one day be home to the district's next high school. The district expects to break ground on the lot, located between Central Parkway and Dublin Boulevard, during the summer of 2020 and hopes to open to a limited number of students after the first phase of construction is complete in the fall of 2022.

The $259 campus will accommodate some 2,500 students and include a theater, aquatic complex, performing arts classrooms, kitchen, academic towers, student gathering area, eight tennis courts, a football field with stadium bleachers and concessions, and more.

For the project's first phase of construction, about $159 million will come from Measure H, which voters passed in 2016, and $8 million will come from developer fees, the district said in a press release.

The district is hoping that voters will pass a bond measure on the March 2020 ballot to fund the second phase of construction, estimated to cost $92 million. Voters have historically been supportive of such measures, said district spokesperson Chip Dehnert over the phone, but the district will consider a lower-level bond or other funding sources if that falls through.

“This is one of the last major hurdles in a project that will benefit the entire Dublin community,” said Dave Marken, superintendent of the Dublin Unified School District, in the press release.

The settlement means that there will be no need for additional court proceedings, the district said. The $38 million sum represents a halfway point between the district's valuation of the lot and landowner's valuation of the lot.

Both parties agreed to the settlement during a mediation session on Dec. 3, pending a formal agreement. The Board of Trustees approved a formal agreement during a closed portion of their Dec. 17 meeting.

The district will now be able to access the property to complete tests, sampling and other matters needed to move forward with the project, according to the press release. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. currently parks cars on the property, but will have to leave by January 2020.

The district will soon reach out to the community for help in naming the campus, Dehnert said.

There are still some technical procedures that must be completed before the district can get the title of the property, but the district expects things to be wrapped up in the first quarter of 2020, according to the press release.

Plans for the new high school come amid a period of substantial growth in the district. Enrollment has tripled over the past decade from roughly 4,300 students in the 2009/2010 school year to 12,700 students in the 2019/2020 school year.

The district faced around $437 million in bond debt as of last June. In an email, Dehnert noted that nearby districts with far less enrollment growth were also facing comparable debt.

Construction will soon begin to replace Frederiksen and Murray Elementary Schools built in the 1960s.

Here's the district's timeline for construction on the high school:

Phase One

• Estimated Opening: Fall 2022
• Number of Students: 1,308
• Features: Administration Building, Student Union, Kitchen, Library, Gymnasium, Locker Room, Three-Story Academic Tower #1, Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) Classrooms, All-Weather Track and Synthetic Field, Four Overhead Field Lights, Eight Tennis Courts, Approximately 500 parking spaces

Phase Two

• Estimated Opening: To be determined
• Number of Students: The remaining 1,237
• Features: Three-Story Academic Tower #2, Theatre, Bleachers, VAPA Classrooms, Basement, Concessions, Pressbox, Maintenance Building

Read more about plans for the campus.

See a rendering of the approved campus design: