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Home My WebLink About12/15/2001 Minutes - Jt. Meeting with WVUSDSPECIAL JOINT MEETING DIAMOND BAR CITY COUNCIL AND THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF WALNUT VALLEY UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT DECEMBER 15, 2001 1. CALL TO ORDER: The Special Joint Meeting of The Diamond Bar City Council and The Board of Trustees of Walnut Valley Unified School District was called to order by Mayor Chang on December 15, 2001 at 7:23 a.m. in the Executive Board Room CC -8 of the South Coast Air Quality Management District/Government Center Building, 21865 E. Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Mayor Chang. ROLL CALL: Council Members Herrera, Huff, Zirbes, Mayor Chang. Mayor Pro Tem O'Connor was excused. School Board Members Hall and Ruiz, Clerk Redinger, Vice President Elfelt and President Lee, Superintendent Ron Hockwalt, Larry Kemper and Diane Hockersmith. Also present were: Linda Lowry, City Manager; James DeStefano, Deputy City Manager; David Doyle, Deputy City Manager; Bob Rose, Community Services Director and Lynda Burgess, City Clerk. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS: Harry Ahn believed that there would be a better solution to the City's outreach efforts than E -Government. Ryan O'Shea, D.B.H.S., asked that the City and the School District consider building a community pool. M/Chang said that the City and the School District have considered the possibility of constructing a community pool but funds for both construction and maintenance are unavailable at this time. 3. Purpose of the Workshop: To collaboratively build a vision statement for WVUSD-owned properties within the City of Diamond Bar — Ron Weaver, WVUSD facilitator. 1) Site D — 28 acres; Public Facility — zoned residential; $12,000,000 appraised value. 2) South Pointe site — 70 acres/two parcels; Planning Area 4 (open space, parks and public facilities — zoned residential w/building restrictions limiting any residential development of the site; $8,000,000 appraised value. 3) Larkstone Park — 2.8 acres (includes a portion of Larkstone Drive. 4) Del Paso property (City of Industry) — 8 Y2 acres — zoned industrial; $4,000,000 appraised value. DECEMBER 15, 2001 PAGE 2 JOINT MEETING, WVUSD AND CITY COUNCIL 5) Vacate current school property and move facilities to South Pointe. VP/Elfelt informed the group that the School District does not have the money to construct facilities such as the envisioned academy concept. Therefore, fundraising becomes an important issue. C/Herrera said she would like the group to come to a decision about the site for Larkstone Park. VP/Elfelt said that the School District does not have the funds to proceed with things like Larkstone Park. C/Herrera explained that as a result of the loss of $200-300 million in redevelopment funds, D.B. does not have the ability to move forward with portions of its General Plan. There is no money to build a swimming pool, much less maintain it. Site D, D.B.H.S. and South Pointe were part of the redevelopment area plan that no longer exists. Under redevelopment, D.B. could have paid for some of these improvements. As a result, D.B. must now concentrate on developing smaller project areas such as rehabilitation of shopping centers. C/Herrera agreed with Superintendent Hockwalt that the next 12 months would be the optimal time for making decisions. VP/Elfelt believed that there were matching funds when cities and school districts enter into joint projects. CM/Lowry said she was not clear about the District's goal in terms of urgency and priority. Is it to convert the land into funds that could be invested into the school site? Superintendent Hockwalt responded that the District's goal is to begin to generate resources so that the academies can be built incrementally. In order to get that to happen, the District and the City need to work together cooperatively to reach that end. C/Herrera said that if an immediate cash stream were needed, would it not make sense to do something with Site D to generate funds. DCM/DeStefano asked whether it is more beneficial for the District to lease or to sell its land. Are there education code constraints in place regarding the utilization of school property? Superintendent Hockwalt said that there are no legal constraints. DECEMBER 15, 2001 PAGE 3 JOINT MEETING, WVUSD AND CITY COUNCIL When asked by C/Huff if the District would like the City to purchase Site D for public purposes to insure a lump -sum amount of cash, Superintendent Hockwalt said he believed the District would be interested in optimizing the amount of money that could be obtained from each property. Therefore, all options would be considered. If Site D balances what can be done on South Point, collectively the goal would be met. 4. Identify agenda items: Superintendent Hockwalt — Both agencies would benefit from Site D being a joint commercial venture. CM/Lowry said that if a certain type of housing were included, it would likely facilitate acquisition of additional funding — senior/low income. C/Herrera - Build a livable community. Mr. Kemper — Natural open space ' C/Huff — use agreement — playground at South Point. C/Huff — exchange Site D property to be used as a buffer between residential (Larkstone Park). M/Hall — joint agreement - Build the academy at the South Point property — include active (pool, gym, school site, etc.); urgent need — funding for the academy. VP/Elfelt — sell or lease Del Paso site. C/Herrera — develop/sell Site D Mr. Kemper — sell portions of South Point Mr. Redinger — move district office to a different location VP/Elfelt — exchange a property. M/Hall — sell Site D property to the City and include Larkstone Park. ' M/Hall — joint venture - nature center at South Point. VP/Elfelt — develop a retail center that includes school buildings. Superintendent Hockwalt — include a printing shop operated in DECEMBER 15, 2001 PAGE 4 JOINT MEETING, WVUSD AND CITY COUNCIL conjunction with Kinko's. 5. Identify priorities and options: C/Herrera said that while she respects comments made by interested parties, she believed it was imperative that D.B. receive resolution on Larkstone Park during this meeting. Superintendent Hockwalt – exchange of property between the old Larkstone Park and land in the canyon. C/Herrera reiterated C/Huff's statement that D.B. has an expectation for active space versus passive space. The canyon bottom would be passive space. In addition, D.B. would like a use agreement on some ball fields outside of the canyon. a. Larkstone Park (Options) • Joint use agreement for athletic fields at the academy site – • Temporary joint use agreement for use of South Pointe fields until the academy is completed. 0 Give D.B. the 2.8 acres currently earmarked for Larkstone Park • Locate Larkstone Park as a buffer zone on Site D CM/Lowry believed that, at this point in time, the District is unclear about the highest and best use for each of the four pieces of property. The Council would like the School Board to leave this meeting today understanding what the City perceives as the most appropriate resolution of Larkstone Park, whether or not there is acceptance and agreement. Council believed that swapping Site D for the canyon and use of fields would resolve the Larkstone Park issue. C/Herrera believed the point of today's meeting was to resolve the Larkstone Park issue. Superintendent Hockwalt and facilitator Ron Weaver said that was not their understanding of today's meeting. A combination of the above options. -� Larkstone Park Option #1 — Canyon portion w/athletic field agreements/MOU that there will be a joint use agreement for Academy athletic fields/ `J C J DECEMBER 15, 2001 PAGE 6 JOINT MEETING, WVUSD AND CITY COUNCIL temporary share agreement for use of South Point fields — unanimous consensus. CM/Lowry said that one of the Council's ongoing goals is to secure open space for the community. In many cases that goal has taken priority over acquisition of parkland. Therefore, it is easy for the City to adopt option #1 because it secures open space and has a potential for larger development of open space through adjacent property. This is not necessarily an option that the School Board would relate to, which is part of why option #1 is a good option for the City. C/Herrera elaborated that the salability of option #1 helps convince the public that changes are forthcoming. Superintendent Hockwalt said that the District would like the opportunity to look at Option #1 and put that option into operational thinking in the context of where the District is at this point in time and see what this option means. Option #2 — Give the City the 2.8 acres currently earmarked for Larkstone Park — no consensus. Option #3 — Incorporate Larkstone Park as a buffer zone on Site D — no consensus. President Lee suggested that there should be clear direction for future meeting agendas. He further suggested that a joint meeting be held within two months. Superintendent Hockwalt left the meeting. There was general consensus that open and honest communication is essential to the success of joint ventures and long-range planning between the City and the School District, that these types of meetings should be regularly scheduled and that this meeting was essential to the planning process. The following tentative dates were selected for the next joint meeting: February 23, March 9 and March 23 at 8:30 a.m. Final date to be announced. DECEMBER 15, 2001 PAGE 6 JOINT MEETING, WVUSD AND CITY COUNCIL ADJOURNMENT: There being no further business to conduct, Mayor Chang and President Lee adjourned the meeting at 9:50 a.m. LYNDA BURGESS, City Clerk ATTEST: Wen Chang, Mayor