Le Bard sale stall angers residents

Members of a little league that plays games on a closed school site up for sale packed the Huntington Beach City School District’s board meeting Tuesday night, calling for answers about why an offer from the city to buy and preserve the land was rejected.

More than 100 parents, children and coaches from the league, as well as other community members, filled chairs at the meeting, asking board members to explain why they turned down the city’s offer to buy the former Le Bard Elementary campus and keep its baseball fields as open space.

“We thought it was the normal process going forward, but now we are shocked and surprised, and concerned about its fate,” coach Greg Willard said.

Board members, in turn, said they were still planning to negotiate, but it was improper to discuss the details out in the open before a deal had been reached.

The city’s offer would have traded $7 million and a $4.5 million piece of “tank farm” land near the AES power plant, along with some additional money for cleanup of the land.

Board President Celia Jaffe responded by reading out the district’s news release on the rejected deal, which states that the district felt cleanup costs on the offered land were too high and there were safety concerns for workers on land near a power plant and a toxic waste cleanup site.

“We can tell you it was not a fair offer, and you would not want us to do that to our school district,” said board member Cathy McGough. “We were so hopeful that the city will come back to the drawing board and come up with something better . . . This city has never stepped up to the plate to provide the youth sports fields that are needed, and they have the opportunity now.”

But attendees said they didn’t know who to believe, or who to put pressure on next.

“It appears the city and the school district have reached a stalemate,” Willard said. “The problem is the public is left to wonder who is responsible. With all the closed door meetings, we want to know what is going on.”

The Huntington Beach City School district has signed a new lease with a Christian school on a closed school site that led to controversy last year when the district canceled its old lease.

In other news for the district’s closed school sites, Brethren Christian Junior and Senior High School has signed a lease that could last up to 35 years with renewals, according to a news release from the school, which rents out the former Gisler Elementary campus at 21141 Strathmoor Lane.

“This is a very exciting time for Brethren Christian,” the school’s principal, Rick Niswonger, said in a statement. “We have long sought a lease that would give us site security, allowing us to build and plan for the future of this wonderful school.”

Last summer, the school had its lease canceled as the district sought out new offers for lease or purchase of its four closed school sites, but some community members cried foul. Several school board meetings saw packed rooms of members protesting the uncertain status of the schools, along with feared loss of open space at closed school sites.

Following an earlier lease signed with Huntington Christian School on the former Burke Elementary school site, the new development means both leases canceled last year have now been renegotiated.

MICHAEL ALEXANDER may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at [email protected].