CUSD Responds to this article... that was fast! (no actual denial here???)
Selling San Clemente High School to developers and the TCA for $100 million would be a gifting of public assets.
San Clemente High School combined upper and lower campus is a total of 60.83 acres.
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CUSD just paid Rancho Mission Viejo $3.4 million per acre for the Esencia K-8 School site. A 14.5 acre flat piece of land 5 miles inland that is nestled between a toll road and Cow Camp Road (a major arterial road).
At a minimum the land alone is worth over $200 million dollars... ($3.4 million per acer X 60.83 acres = $206,822.00).
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When you factor in that San Clemente High School is less than a mile from the beach and the upper campus is 14 acres of 180 degree Ocean View property... that has to be worth more in price per acre than the Esencia K-8 school site.
At $4 million per acre the land would be worth $243 million...
At $5 million per acre the land would be worth $300 million...
Selling San Clemente High School for $100 million would be a gifting of public assets.
See: June 7, 2017 CUSD BOT Meeting Oral Communications SC High Upper Campus
Rumor has it that the perfect place for a new high school would be at the inland terminus of Pico in Talega known as Planning Area 8.
"For decades, engineers used the hilltop site for top-secret testing of rockets, lasers and other technologies including engines for the lunar-landing modules that placed 12 Apollo astronauts on the moon." OC Register Article
"Area 8 is the former site of an aerospace test facility run by TRW and Northrop Grumman. In 2004, the area was shown as 1,264 acres and the plan was for up to 1,200 homes there, plus a 25-acre golf resort, an 80-acre business park and a neighborhood retail center. Two other development bubbles, Planning Areas 6 and 7, were behind it, separated by open space." OC Register Article
"Environmental groups filed suit to challenge the county-approved ranch plan and, in a 2005 settlement, the ranch eliminated Areas 6 and 7, essentially shifting those homes into planning areas closer to Ortega Highway and leaving more open space beside the conservancy. Planning Area 8 shrank from 1,264 acres to 500 acres, but there was no indication of how much development might go there." OC Register Article
One has to wonder if a former test site for rockets, lasers and other technologies would be suitable land for a new high school?
Probably not...
However, history has shown us that the health and safety of staff and students has not prevented the Capistrano Unified School District from putting schools in land not suitable for other construction.
San Juan Hills High School was built near a dump, under high power electrical lines, near a high powered gas line and will soon also be sandwiched between a Toll Road and major arterial road.
In addition, CUSD sat quietly by and watch a Toll Road be graded less than 100' from Tesoro High School without the EIR required protective barrier (a 10' high 3,770' long wall).
On the bright side San Clemente will have the first STEM campus actually built on a rocket test site!
