The last thing Gilroy needs is an impasse over the price of the
new Las Animas Elementary School site
– but that looks like the direction we’re headed.
The last thing Gilroy needs is an impasse over the price of the new Las Animas Elementary School site – but that looks like the direction we’re headed.
The appraisals obtained by land owner Glen Loma Group and prospective buyer Gilroy Unified School District for the 10-acre site, located south of Christmas Hill Park, differ by an eye-popping $5 million.
The cause of that difference is that Glen Loma Group’s appraisal of $900,000 per acre is based on the site’s highest and best use as residential property, while GUSD anticipates paying a lower-use rate of $500,000 an acre. GUSD got an appraisal that valued the land at even less than that.
GUSD officials have rebuffed Glen Loma Group’s suggestion that the two groups enter a non-binding arbitration process.
“We simply cannot pay residential prices for property that we’re going to put schools on,” Assistant Superintendent Steve Brinkman told reporter Lori Stuenkel.
Taxpayers certainly understand that sentiment and appreciate GUSD’s fiscal prudence.
But GUSD has a 2006 deadline for opening a new Las Animas Elementary School, and if it is forced to find another site for the school, it will risk missing that deadline and paying to redo expensive and lengthy environmental reviews.
The ironic twist is that the need for a larger Las Animas School will come from the development of Glen Loma Ranch – a project of Glen Loma Group, owner of the price-disputed 10-acre school site. The fact that Glen Loma’s project is causing need for the school should increase the duty of the developer to be flexible with the school district on this matter. After all, a nearby, brand-new elementary school will be quite a draw for families considering purchasing a home in the master-planned community.
Certainly with all the profit potential of a 1,400-home development – the largest in Gilroy’s history – Glen Loma Group has some wiggle room on the price of a school site that will clearly benefit the developer and the entire community.
It sounds like a situation that’s ripe for some intercession, whether you want to call it arbitration or not.
Perhaps Mayor Al Pinheiro and City Administrator Jay Baksa can bring their considerable political, persuasive and fiscal skills to bear on this problem. Maybe some joint-use projects for parks, library or recreation facilities, following the successful model at Solorsano Middle School, could be the clinching factor on a city-brokered deal.
We urge Glen Loma Group, GUSD and city officials to come together to find a deal that avoids a time-consuming and costly impasse that will only damage our community.
