It is a fact that that some Los Altos School District board members, staff and consultants have been dropping hints that sub-par sites for the 10th school might be considered. Even though all our other schools are 10 acres and up, the district’s architect, Lisa Gelfand, has stated that a “5-6 acre site could be enough” and that sometimes sites have “problems – like soil toxics –because they are being converted from industrial or agricultural zoning. You don’t find a perfect site.” So here is more info about the Los Altos School District toxic site being seriously considered for a new school.
On the left the residential neighborhood surrounding the industrial Mora Drive cul de sasc , as seen from Ex LASD Mark Goines property
The Mora-Ortega Precise Plan area seems to have been established as a light industrial strip in 1950’s. But by 1987 it was surrounded by residential apartments and townhouses and was a zoning anomaly. In that year Mountain View City Council applied a “25 year amortization” to the 17 parcels. These 25 years would allow all the business owners to retire or move and allow property owners to prepare for being zoned residential as of 2011. The street has its own Precise Plan.
The Crash of 2008 took a big toll on local real estate activity. In recent years two developers looked at Mora to redevelop as a residential community but those deals fell apart when the developers faced up to the known and unknown toxins at the site.
Chemicals and a School Bus Collide. Is LASD courting lawsuits?
The Known Toxins
Here is the story of the known toxins. About three decades ago, one of the properties was occupied by Plessy Micro Science, a printed circuit board electronics company using VOCs, volatile organic compounds, namely photolithography solvents. These are known cancer-causing chemicals. When the company went out of business, as part of the bankruptcy liquidation about $2M was put in a fund with the State of California DTSC to ameliorate the toxins, bringing the property up to industrial use standards. This DTSC amelioration is was apparently completed by 2013, and treatment equipment was removed.
However, this DTSC toxic amelioration does not meet residential standards. There will almost certainly need to be removal of soil and “pockets of impacted materials.” And when the ultimate buyer’s demolition bulldozers take down all the old buildings and foundations, other surprises might be found – a common surprise is old, underground storage tanks.
Mora Owners-Businesses get two “Amortization” Extensions
Using the sad story of these difficulties, Mora Drive property owners, businesses and developers TWICE convinced the Mountain View City Council to extend the “amortization” deadline for 18 months – first in 2011, and most recently an extension was approved in September 2013. This means businesses could remain, owners could collect rents.
As of 2013 the California DTSC completed remediating the Mora site up to light industrial standards, not residential standards.
Lennar is Third Developer to Engage
At the September 17, 2013 council meeting, the real estate agent Martin Checki explained that the Mora owners were engaging with Lennar Homes and were working on a contract which would give the tenants and property owners the means to move. Douglas Rich of Lennar explained that the company had extensive experience cleaning up closed military bases to use them for residential developments and had put aside $1.6 Million which might be needed to bring the site fully up to residential use standards.
At that Sept. 17, 2013 council meeting, city staff admitted that several unallowed uses were occurring at Mora – including living in buildings and commercial landscaping. Staff felt that code enforcement was pointless because the violators would be moving out soon anyway.
As of 2015, most of the light industrial buildings on Mora are not in use… like this one, which seems to be the former site of Plessy and many of the known toxics.
View from the Ground at Mora
So what is the state of Mora as of February 2015? Lalahpolito toured the site a a month ago. Over half of the properties are totally vacant and boarded up. Almost all of the rest seemed to be involved in moving out. Everything is quite run down, just as one would expect of property waiting to be torn down.
A few business are still moving out. There have been code violations such as using the area for residential purposes. A stroller?
One of the tenants saw me photographing the street and business fronts, so we joked about Real Estate Before and After photos. He said he had been in that location for 38 years, and that his business would be closing, not moving. He joked that it would be nice if they would give him a condo or even half of a condo in the new development. Clearly the surrounding Mora-Ortega community is expecting housing on the 5-acres, not a school.
Lalahpolitico estimates that the “amortization” extension expires as early as April 2015. All tenants will be a non-conforming use and may be gone. Then there will be no rental income for the property owners to cover the property taxes, which because of Prop 13 might not be too terribly high.
Lennar is exploring developing 75 attached row homes on Mora Drive…similar to these immediately nextdoor in the Mountain View Whisman School District.
What about Lennar?
So how far along in Lennar with its scheme as of February 2015? Lennar is at the earliest stage of the City of Moutain View’s Plannng Process. No plans have yet been approved. No hearings have been held or even scheduled.
City Of Mountain View Document: page 23 extract… “No. 66” http://www.mountainview.gov/civicax/filebank/blobdload.aspx?BlobID=15184
“Mora-Ortega Precise Plan
Request for a Planning Community Permit, Planned Unit Development and Heritage Tree Removal permit to demolish 15 existing industrial buildings on 17 lots in order to construct 75 attached rowhomes, and a 0.45 acre public park on a 5.13 acre total project site. The project is located on the east side of Ortega Avenue between California Street and the terminus of Ortega Avenue. Status/Next Step(s): Under review. The applicant [Lennar] is currently working on revised plans. Zoning Administrator, Subdivsion Committee, and Council hearings expected in 2015.”
What about Los Altos School District?
So how far along is the Los Altos School District with acting on a hope to put a school on Mora Drive? Well, they have the passed the $150M Measure N bond. But apparently it will take at least 3 to 6 months to issue some bonds and have some cash come rolling in from the bond. [They could undertake private bridge financing.] Futhermore the Mora site will need to be rezoned from residential to community use. Public Schools are exempt from property taxes, so the city of Mountain View will be giving up the substantial property tax potential of 75 new row homes. Will the Mountain View City Council go along with that?
The Mora site is just inside the MV Whisman School District boundary.
Technically the LASD “Mora School” would be located within the Mountain View Whisman School District, but MVWSD kids won’t be admitted. Unless of course Los Altos School District plans to strike a per student $12,000 payment deal with MVWhisman School District? But then why did Los Altos School District taxpayers pass measure N if it was to build a school for out-of-district kids? [Bullis charter only admits in-district students.] Lalahpolitico would expect that the Mora School neighbors may protest the arrival of a school immediately nextdoor, certainly one their kids can’t attend. They get all the traffic and none of the “walk to school” benefits.
The District will have to get permission from the County Board of Education to “annex” the Mora-Ortega site. Also the California Department of Education will have to approve of the site as suitable for a school, while the District submits required documents like for “Contingent Exceptions:” CEQA (traffic…), DTSC (toxics…), etc.
What about the North of El Camino (NEC) residents? parents?
LASD school board candidates who walked the precincts in NEC in the fall of 2014 report that the NEC community was of split opinion (50/50) on whether adding a school in NEC was a good thing or not. NEC Residents without children living in the home tended to think it would enhance the desirability of the area and property value. NEC Residents with children in the family tended to prefer having NEC kids assigned to existing schools on the South Side of El Camino – namely to Santa Rita, Almond and Covington. Such parents believed the student composition of a new “NEC neighborhood” district school would have a much higher percentage disadvantaged, special needs, and English language learners than the District average. Furthermore, they did not want their children’s current school social circle being disrupted by being assigned to a different school.
A cell tower camoflauged as a Christian cross has never installed on St. WIlliam because hyper-vigilent Covington PTA parent protested.
Lalahpolitico wonders how NEC parents will react to the Mora-Ortega site as a 10th site, given its small 5 acre size relative to other District schools with 10 acres, and given Mora’s toxic waste history. Will NEC parents feel like they are being discriminated against?
Today’s parents can be hyper-vigilent about food allergies, chemical allergies, vaccinations, radiation poisioning, etc. For example, about ten years ago, the Covington PTA skillfully organized a mob of parents to descend on the Los Altos City Council in person and by email to protest against radiation poisoning. These parents believed their children could suffer brain damage if a cellular wireless service company was permitted to install a cellular antenna on St. William Catholic Church, which is located next to Covington School. The St. William priest explained to Council that the tower’s visual appearance would be a non-intrusive, appropriately scaled Christian Cross attached to the outside wall of the main church. Furthermore the church would earn $1300 a month! However, the howls of the anquished parents succeeded in nixing the permit. Today that area on El Monte is still a “dead zone” for quality cellular service for lack of a tower there. [But 4G seems to available there]
The rumor that a site is available to the Los Altos School District for a “one dollar a year lease” is circulating again in 2015. Is it the old Eastbrook School site, now down to 3 acres and SOLD to a Waldorf School?
Rumor Mill
The rumor mill says Mora Drive is not the only site under District consideration. Sure, of course.
” There is a site for lease at one dollar a year.” The source of this rumor is perhaps associated with the old Eastbrook School site in LAH the District put on a lease-to-buy contract with the Waldorf School of the Peninsula almost 30 years ago. Randy Kenyon has said that in the 30th year, Waldorf will pay $1 to complete the purchase. Hey folks, that place is SOLD. Could the District do an eminent domain on the Waldorf School? I suppose.
Or maybe the source of the rumor is speculation that the City of Los Altos Hills would lease its maintenance storage area on O’Keefe for one dollar a year? Pie in the sky? Or is that city council really anxious to have a second school located in LAH? Los Altos Hills council member John Radford has told Palo Alto School District board the LAH is paying too much in school property tax because there is no longer any PAUSD school located in the hills. Decades ago there was a PAUSD school on Fremont Ave. Radford says that a much larger share of the LAH residents’ school property tax should be going to LASD.
Some LASD Parents Are Petitioning the City to Lease Hillview for Bullis Charter
“The City of Los Altos could do more.” This is the local faction who still have their eye on the 8 acres of Hillview Community Center. Those folks have been very quiet in public for almost a year now. [Although there a couple folks on the current Facilities Master Plan Committee who bring up Hillview during committee meetings.] Meanwhile Los Altos City Council is steadily moving forward with a plan to market a “$45 million” new community center-pool complex located on the 8 acres of Hillvew to the voters. The “Hillview should be a school” faction likes to argue that they moved to Los Altos for the schools; nobody moves in for a community center. Playing the devil’s advocate,
Lalahpolitico thinks plenty of people move into the City of Los Altos primarily for the close to everything location, location, location… and the somewhat larger lots, not for any public amenities.
Finally, See Related article on Mark Goines Mora Drive Conflict of Interest.
