Morro Bay City officials have set a time and date for the second public meeting to discuss their attempts to purchase the closed Morro Elementary School.
City Manager John Craig said they’ve set up the second due diligence informational meeting for 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, June 24 at the Vet’s Hall, 209 Surf St.
The first meeting was held April 29 and was more of a listening session, Craig said. Their goal was to go through the steps they were planning to take as part of a due diligence review before finalizing the $5.3 million purchase from the school district.
They also wanted to hear from the community about any concerns they might have, he said.
It was packed at the Vet’s Hall as residents asked numerous questions about the property, which has been closed since 2001. It was the town’s lone elementary school until the early 1980s when Del Mar Elementary was built.
When enrollment declined sufficiently, the San Luis Coastal Unified School District closed Morro and sent all the children to Del Mar.
About a decade ago, the District moved all sixth graders to Los Osos Middle School for a new STEAM based curriculum, leaving Del Mar with kids in kindergarten-fifth grade.
Back at that April meeting, Craig and Community Development Director Airlin Singewald went through the various studies they were going to do as part of the due diligence prior to making a recommendation to the City Council on whether to move forward with the sale. That recommendation is expected to go to the Council in August.
At the next meeting, he said, they would have more information about their due diligence results. If all goes smoothly, the sale is scheduled to close escrow on Halloween (Oct. 31). The City has put $500,000 down and will need to come up with the remaining $4.8 million to close the sale.
Back in April, they hadn’t yet identified where that money would come from, and more information on that should be available at the June 24 meeting.
The City is also right now advertising the former Teen Center on Atascadero Road for sale, asking $2.1 million. It’s presumed that if it can be sold the proceeds would be put towards the Morro Elementary purchase.
But just like the school, the old teen center has restrictions on its reuse. Under State Law any surplus properties owned by local governments and school districts must first be offered to other government agencies for continued public use.
If no agencies want it, it can be sold to private concerns, but they must build affordable housing on the site. If no takers are interested in buying it for affordable housing, the agency/owner can petition the State to lift the restriction and allow for other uses. The Teen Center is in a Commercial/Visitor-Serving zone.
It’s been conceptually shown that the Morro Elementary site is large enough to be able to build some affordable housing, a possibility the City put out there in April.
Another interesting fact that came out in April was the possibility of an old underground tank buried in front of what used to be the school’s bus garage.
Craig told Estero Bay News that they believe it was a gasoline tank but that it may have been emptied many years ago and taken out of service.
To what extent if any the old tank leaked into the ground is something that must still be determined. They aren’t sure at this point if it’s even still in the ground.
It’s nothing drastic, he said, adding that it’s normal for a school with a bus garage to have a fuel tank.
At the June 24 meeting, they should have much more information about the other studies they’ve been conducting, like an environmental assessment, hazardous materials inspections, land surveys and a title search, among others.
There is currently a Montessori School operating in the school library. Other tenants that had been at the school and paying rent to the District, moved out in anticipation of the campus being sold.
What would the City want with an old school, which has eight buildings on it including a historic main building built in 1936?
At the April 29 meeting suggestions were made that the City could move City Hall and the Public Works Department there, bringing them under one roof and turn the school into a civic center of sorts.
The main building also has an auditorium with a stage that was also the school cafeteria with an adjacent kitchen space.
Most recently, the auditorium/cafeteria was used as a meeting hall for a church that rented that space from the School District but has since moved out.
The school also has several classroom buildings built at different times during its tenure that could be repurposed into other uses.
If the City does end up moving City Hall there, it would free up the current City Hall site at Shasta Avenue and Harbor Street for potential redevelopment.
Indeed, the City owns most of that entire city block, buying it up over the years as part of an old conceptual plan — now obsolete — to build a “civic center” there that would have included new fire and police stations, a new public works office and City Hall (administration).
Many residents at the April meeting wanted the City to make sure the sizable grassy field behind the school remains available for youth sports activities.
