Planners OK Plan to Lease School Site : Santa Clarita: A residents group opposed to use of the property for a shopping center may appeal.

The Sulphur Springs School District came a step closer Tuesday to becoming a venture capitalist.

The Santa Clarita Planning Commission unanimously approved the elementary school district’s plan to lease a former school site to a developer for a shopping center. The district’s proposal to jointly develop the mall with Tandam Builders Inc. would bring in at least $500,000 annually for new schools and classrooms during the 66-year life of the lease.

But a group of about 50 residents who live near the proposed shopping center said Tuesday that they might appeal the Planning Commission’s decision to the City Council. The owner of a nearby McDonald’s said he definitely will appeal.

The council rejected the district’s original plan in September, saying it would be too disruptive to neighbors and ordering the district to reduce the size of the project.

Under the school district’s new plan, the mall would be 13% smaller, two streets would be realigned to reduce traffic congestion and truck access would be limited to cut down on noise. The mall would include a warehouse-style grocery store, a fast-food restaurant and shops on the site of the 9.1-acre former school at Soledad Canyon Road and Luther Drive.

Proponents of the project include a group of about 300 Canyon Country residents who named themselves Concerned Parents and Citizens for Kids.

But opponents “still don’t feel commercial development is the best use of the property,� said Terry Lucero, an accountant whose property borders the proposed mall. “Housing for senior citizens or a townhouse complex would be preferable.�

Supt. Robert Nolet said leasing the property to a developer is the most profitable use of the land. The district has already relocated offices that were on the site and closed the 350-student elementary school, assigning the pupils to another school nearby.

Jay Schutz complained that his McDonald’s will lose its corner location if the two streets are realigned and a competing fast-food restaurant will wind up on the intersection, saying “we’ll be half a block away from success.�

An increasing number of school districts in California are developing surplus property, rather than selling it, said Duwayne Brooks, assistant superintendent for school facilities of the state’s Department of Education. He could not, however, estimate how many of the state’s 1,029 school districts are developing surplus land.