First step taken to sell school site

Peninsula High’s home, 41 acres in San Bruno, along with three acres along Hillsdale Boulevard at Hillsdale High may be unneeded and could be rented or sold, according to a committee charged by the San Mateo Union High School District with identifying surplus property.

If a new site can be found to house Peninsula High School, the 41 acres upon which the continuation school currently sits in San Bruno will be excess property, according to a draft report approved last night by the committee charged to identify surplus assets. Two small sites on Hillsdale High school, totaling 3 acres, can also be considered surplus. A public hearing on the report will be held 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 17 with a location in San Bruno yet to be set. Public comments from the hearing will be considered to revise the draft before it ultimately goes to a vote by the district Board of Trustees. If the board finds the properties to be surplus, the committee recommends the property be used for long-term lease or sale.

The committee grappled with saying a school site was excess noting needs could clearly change 10 to 20 years down the road, but ultimately approved the draft report.

Committee member Neil Wild, a San Mateo firefighter and Capuchino High parent, worried the property would be sold for little given the economy and would not meet the district’s financial needs.

Chair Skip Henderson, who also sits on the San Bruno Park Elementary School District Board of Trustees, was curious how much income the district would need to truly consider the sale as a viable option.

Both questions were viable, but Mark Avelar, former district deputy superintendent serving on the committee, said neither was the charge of the group.

Peninsula High School, 41 acres on the site formally known as Crestmoor High in San Bruno, can be considered surplus if the board finds a suitable alternative to house the school. The committee noted Peninsula is not centrally located. A central location near other transportation options, like Caltrain and SamTrans, would be a better alternative, according to the draft.

Peninsula High School has a number of tenants using 20,195 square feet of the site generating about $312,800 annually for the district. One of the largest tenants, Gym Towne, which pays $121,400 annually, will be moving out at the end of the year. But, the money is not really a profit, noted Elizabeth McManus, district superintendent of Business Services, who said the renters pay under the Civic Center Act which allows the district to recoup costs like labor, facilities and utilities. As a result, the profit for the district is nothing, she said.

The facility has also been ripped apart in a sense, McManus said. For example, pieces like the heating units were taken out and put into other school facilities leaving the Crestmoor site not completely functional.

Another option is three acres at Hillsdale High from two areas: A .8669-acre spot at Del Monte Street and Hillsdale Boulevard and a 2.1-acre spot south of the football and baseball fields and home to some basketball and tennis courts at Hillsdale Boulevard and Alameda de las Pulgas. A portion of the second area, about 80 feet, is slated to be used for a brick walk of fame, noted Craig Childress, a Hillsdale teacher and San Mateo High School District Teacher Association president. The map will need to reflect the additional walkway.

The original draft recommendation included a note that selling property could create an opportunity for the district to open up funds currently going toward paying down an $80 million consolidation loan incurred in 2007 to lessen or eliminate the impacts of debt caused by money given to the district using a bond measure as collateral. It was removed, by a 7-1 vote with Deirdre Marblestone, a San Mateo attorney and Aragon High parent, voting no, at the request of Wild after he noted it was not the charge of the committee to discuss finances, which this does.

The report should be posted on the district Web site, www.smuhsd.org, in the near future. A location for the public hearing is tentatively set to be in San Bruno with more details to come.

Heather Murtagh can be reached by e-mail: heather@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 105.