Neighbors again propose alternate uses for site once planned for private, Christian high school

A group of residents who 10 years ago opposed construction of a private high school on 32 acres of city-owned land at Bastanchury Road and Casa Loma Avenue again are offering a plan for the property first presented to city officials in 2003.

Some 400 residents near the proposed school site fought the city's action to lease the land to Yorba Linda Friends Church by forming Yorba Linda Residents for Appropriate Land Use.

When that battle was lost on a 4-1 City Council vote, the group stayed active, and in 2005, with an attorney's aid, came to an agreement with the school on traffic, noise, parking and pedestrian safety issues.

Thereafter, group leader Ken Charlton often spoke at council sessions on school issues, and in 2011, he urged council members to require “immediate” construction of promised joint-use facilities or “move forward with alternate uses” for the property.

Now, Charlton and the group are renewing past ideas for the acreage: sell the southern 13 acres to a builder for residential use--“let the city pocket those funds”--and build facilities for the public on the other 19 acres that have restrictions requiring public use.

Cost of new municipal facilities to replace the once-planned city-school recreational amenities could come by extracting “enough of a penalty from the defunct school lease,” Charton stated.

The 2003 lease signed by city and church officials doesn't spell out actual dollar amounts of penalties for default, but according to the document, the city “may recover all payments and pursue any other rights and remedies...by reason of such default as provided by law.”

Past due payments for five quarter-year periods total more than $1.1 million, including a 10 percent penalty assessed when rents were five days late. Lease terms state that late fees “are separate from any other rights and remedies” the city might have “as provided by this lease or by law.”

And, according to the lease, “all improvements...shall become property” of the city “at no cost” to the city. The church has reported spending nearly $2.7 million on actual site work and $6.1 million on architect, engineering, consulting, legal and other fees, which includes cash paid for plan checks and permits to 10 government agencies, with $408,000 collected by the city.

Should the city seek bids on the entire 32 acres, a prospective tenant – either another private school or other group willing to allow public use on the 19 acres – would be unlikely to accept lease terms similar to the pact signed with Friends Church.

One 2011 calculation put the total 99-year lease cost, with yearly 2.2 percent consumer price index increases, at $253 million, with annual payments growing from $800,000 to $6.2 million.

Meanwhile, the city faces a potential $105,800 cost to manage the site, with outlays for erosion control, site stabilization, weed abatement and storm drain maintenance.