Tehachapi News

Undeveloped sites owned by Tehachapi Unified School District

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Tehachapi City Manager Greg Garrett assisted Superintendent Richard Swanson with a presentation to the board last week, reporting on the status of school district owned properties, including “mothballed” facilities, and several parcels of vacant land.

Garrett is part of the “7-11” facilities committee originally requested  by Trustee Holly Hart in 2006. A team of not more than eleven and no less than seven community members have spent almost a year researching the serpentine complexities associated with selling, leasing or refurbishing the district’s  unused facilities.

“We found out you have a lot of land that you may not want to hang on to,” Garrett said at the June 23 board meeting. “You are asset rich and cash poor .”

Swanson said that this year, the state’s desperate scramble for new revenues will cost the district $65,000 in non-usage fees for undeveloped land owned by the district. In the history of the district, only $59,000 has been paid to date on those vacant parcels, he said.

“Every property has a different  story,” Garrett said adding that the district might not be able to liquidate all of the vacant sites as several of the vacant parcels have reversionary clauses that date back to the 1970s. In some cases, the entities they would revert to no longer exist.

The district can’t do anything without recommendation from the   committee, Swanson said.

The committee’s recommendation to the board is basically to dump what they can and find community partners to update and utilize the rest.

Partnerships with NASA Dryden Flight Center and several community colleges are in the works, Swanson said. He hopes the district can  partner to create a technology and distance learning center at Wells School, and eventually move pre-school and K-5 programs into the old Jacobsen site.

“Partnerships are so very important,” Garrett said. “If we don’t partner we will dry up and blow away.” 

Garrett told the board, “You’re way overbuilt. Take your hit. Take the loss and move on. The growth is stagnant in this school district. You’re sitting on these phantom classrooms and now they’re costing you money.”

Swanson said that previous stumbling blocks regarding the sale or development of school property could be rescinded by the state.

“It’s possible that we would have a  three year window for use of sale proceeds,” he said.

In order to qualify for matching government funds to repair what the district called “mothballed facilities,” enrollment would need to increase by as much as 4,000 students, Swanson estimated.

“We have to disabuse ourselves of the notion that we’re going to have any matching funds for a long time,” Swanson said.

Issues needing attention at each school site currently in use could possibly be remedied with new revenue streams created by leasing out space at Wells Elementary and the old Jacobsen Junior High Schools.

“Jacobsen has been identified as the site least in need of structural repair in order to be operable,” states the facilities report.

As of October 2006, the site had an estimated value of $8,279,351. Estimated costs for renovation ranged from $11,000,000 to $19,000,000.

According to the report, there is the possibility of qualifying for state modernization funding of approximately $750,000.

“If you don’t that repair roof, you’ll lose that building,” Garrett said adding that the school can’t be used “unless you pour millions into it.”

State education representatives recommend against selling Wells. Because it is part of the current middle school parcel, 18 “phantom classrooms” at the site will count towards the district’s eligibility for future growth-related funding.

Wells Elementary School, originally constructed in 1934, could be eligible for up to $1.6 million in modernization funding, according to the report.

“There’s a lot of interest in the east wing and some of the portables there,” Swanson said describing the potential for future satellite campuses for Cerro Coso College, Bakersfield College and California State University at Bakersfield.

“You need to empower this guy to go work the details,” Garrett said,  pointing to Swanson. “Otherwise everything that I’ve done and the committee has done will be lost...please don’t let all of this go to waste.”

Members of the 7-11 Facilities Committee include Greg Garrett, Kirk Gilbert, Robert Morgan, David   Rhinehart, Marti Sprinkle, Lee White, Jason Caudle and Richard Swanson.

Original members that has resigned include Pam Jones, Randy  Schultz and Bill Sommermeyer.