Increased fees on new construction approved in Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District

 School-related fees paid by developers on new residential and commercial construction in the 40-square-mile Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District will increase soon after the start of the new fiscal year that begins July 1.

Fees on new residential development will jump 54.6% from $3.48 per-square-foot to $5.38 per-square-foot. Fees on new commercial-industrial development will jump 55.4% from 56 cents per-square-foot to 87 cents per-square-foot. Fees for new rental self-storage facilities will be nine cents per-square-foot.

The new fees – the maximum allowed under state law – were approved on a 5-0 vote of the district’s trustees at a May 12 meeting and were based on findings presented in a 39-page report from a district-hired consultant, SchoolWorks, Inc., based in Granite Bay, California.

An estimated 600 new residential units will be built in the next five years within the district’s boundaries, which includes property in nearly all of Placentia and Yorba Linda and parts of Fullerton, Brea and Anaheim.

State law allows school districts “to assess fees on new residential and commercial construction within their respective boundaries...without special city or county approval,” according to the SchoolWorks report.

The fees can be used to build new schools “necessitated by the impact of residential and commercial development activity,” the report stated. Also, the fees can be used “to fund the reconstruction of school facilities to accommodate students generated from new development projects.”

Fees are collected prior to the issuance of a building permit by the city or county.

For the current school year, enrollment stands at 22,295 on the district’s 34 campuses: 11,020 in transitional kindergarten through sixth grade; 3,518 in seventh and eighth grades; and 7,757 in ninth through 12^th grades.

The projected 600-unit residential construction is expected to generate and additional 242 students over the next five years, including 120 elementary, 38 middle and 84 high school students, based on a formula estimating 0.4032 students per new residential unit.

The district currently has a classroom capacity for 26,949 students, 4,654 more than this year’s 22,295-student enrollment, “assuming the existing facilities remain in sufficient condition to maintain existing levels of service,” the report noted.

The projected cost for school facilities needed due to new development is $9.1 million, with the new development fees anticipated to bring in $6.2 million for the next five years.

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Trustees moved forward on a five-year “Strategic Visioning and Planning Process” described in my May 7 column by hiring Differentiated Solutions Consulting on a one-year contract for $136,000 to $178,000 to support planning, implementation and monitoring, including action planning this summer, implementation in the coming school year and sustainability transition next June.

'Strategic Visioning and Planning Process" will chart future for student education in Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District

 A wide-ranging “strategic visioning and planning process” is now underway in the Placentia- Yorba Linda Unified School District with the goal of shaping the future of the district’s schools, which enroll some 22,600 students on 34 campuses.

The process is bringing together “educators, students, families, community partners and local organizations to collaboratively define the priorities, goals and initiatives that will guide student success and district operations in the years ahead,” according to district officials.

The outcome will be the district’s “north star” for the next five years and “turn vision into action,” said Superintendent Kym LeBlanc-Esparza in a YouTube video.

The process began earlier this year with dozens of information-gathering sessions with stakeholders and will culminate with board of education approval in June and implementation starting in July. A board study session on a draft report is scheduled for a meeting this month.

Sixteen district and community stakeholder groups are involved in the process. They include current and recent students, parents, certificated and classified staff, local organizations, business and industry representatives, area colleges, elected officials and booster clubs.

Among the local organizations participating in the process are Rotary clubs, women’s clubs, district cities and libraries, police and fire officials and chambers of commerce.Higher education institutions involved include Fullerton, Cypress, Santiago Canyon, Orange Coast and Santa Ana colleges and Cal-State Fullerton, Chapman and Cal Poly universities, as well as the Universities of California at Irvine and Riverside.

Community forums were held last month and early this month on district campuses, and a survey is posted on the district’s website. Some 350 students from the district’s high schools and middle schools were among the focus groups participating in the process.

For example, a group of seniors at Yorba Linda High School meeting in January commented that they valued the “supportive relationships, leadership opportunities and collaborative experiences that shape their growth….”

But the seniors also commented that they felt “uncertainty about future pathways and transitions and seek more guidance in career planning, financial literacy and real-world preparation to confidently navigate life after graduation.”

And a focus group involving members of the non-profit REACH Foundation, standing for Resources for the Enrichment of Academics, Arts and Athletics for Our Children, which supports district students and campuses, “highlighted strong community connections, caring educators and valuable partnerships….”

But group members also emphasized “the need for greater transparency, student voice and expanded community collaboration – such as internships and career exposure – to ensure graduates develop the social, professional and life skills needed to survive.”