Just a heads up on what’s been happening thus far
June 16, 2008
HUNTINGTON BEACH City Council unanimously voted Monday night to buy Huntington Beach City School District’s Le Bard Elementary School, a closed campus currently used for district offices.
“I suggest we do take action tonight for the benefit of the community … and to let the board know where we stand,” Councilman Keith Bohr said before the vote.
The city agreed to pay the district $7 million and deed to the district a 3.5-acre property near the proposed Poseidon desalination project.
District officials said they are considering moving the district offices or the maintenance, operations and transportation headquarters to new site. The city will also pay the district $400,000 to clean up the property.
This deal, which still needs approval from the district, will allow the city to resell the school buildings for about $3 million, which makes the agreement financally viable, Bohr said.
A private school has already contacted the city about buying the buildings, he said.
Members of Huntington Beach Tomorrow and savehbcommunity.com, which lobbied to preserve open space at the site for sports fields, were not at the meeting.
The city is also working on adding two acres to Le Bard Park adjacent to the school, Community Services Director Jim Engle said Monday. The three-acre park would be expanded using a space owned by Southern California Edison.
The negotiations for the Le Bard site come after almost two years of talks at the district about the future of its four surplus campuses.
