This Google Earth image shows the layout of Sunnyside School in Los Osos outlined in red.
A group of citizens aptly named “Buy Sunnyside School Coalition,” has formed to begin raising money towards the purchase of a surplus school site in Los Osos and use it for youth sports leagues, recreational activities, and homes for non-profits.
Gary Freiberg has taken the lead for the Buy Sunnyside group and is optimistic that their grassroots effort will result in greatly needed parks space for the community.
Sunnyside School is “an opportunity for Los Osos to offer services and uses we currently don’t have,” said Freiberg. He added that the town of roughly 15,000 people has just 6.4 acres of public park space, essentially just the Community Park, when based on the population it should have about 42 acres. This doesn’t count the over 10,000 acres of State Parks.
“You can’t play baseball at Montaña de Oro,” Freiberg said. Sunnyside School is a total of 11.9 acres, including buildings, parking lots and playing fields.
The San Luis Coastal Unified School District, which owns Sunnyside School, closed the town’s oldest campus in the early 2000s, due to dropping enrollment and the completion of Monarch Grove Elementary several years prior. Including Baywood Elementary, the town had three grade schools and that was one too many for the District.
After Sunnyside’s closure, the District rented out some of the buildings to various organizations, including a Cal Fire training facility and Head Start, among other non-profit entities.
But now faced with the loss of millions in property tax payments from the Diablo Canyon Power Plant, the District is facing a very tight budget. The Board of Trustees decided earlier this year to declare Sunnyside and Morro Elementary in Morro Bay to be “surplus” property and sell them.
But school sites cannot simply be sold to the highest bidder, there are State Laws concerning what can be done with closed schools, and limitations on potential future uses.
Selling to another government entity for use by the community is at the top of that list. So too is affordable housing, and Freiberg said the County is only interested in workforce housing.
But if Los Osos wants Sunnyside, it has to first show there’s interest, and the School District wants an answer by August.
“We have to assure the School District that Los Osos supports this,” Freiberg explained. They also have to convince the District that they can pay for it. They’re already off to a good start with the first of these.
Turnout at a recent town hall held at Sunnyside and called by the Community Services District was standing room only. The CSD was asking everyone at that town hall to fill out an online survey
In early April, Freiberg called the first meeting of the Sunnyside Coalition and had another great turnout.
There were 20 representatives of local organizations and leaders, he said, naming off the Little League, girls’ soccer league, senior citizen agencies, folks who want a dog park and others, a real cross section of the entire community. “The Coalition is a broad representation of organizations who want to use Sunnyside, if we get to buy it.”
He then contacted Greg and Mary Bettencourt of Cayucos who are leaders in the citizen’s groups that formed to support rebuilding the Cayucos Pier and the Vet’s Hall, too, raising millions.
“I asked them how they did it?” Freiberg said. The Cayucos groups raised millions for the two major rebuilding projects, which saved two of the town’s historic centerpieces.
“I got some great information,” Freiberg said of that meeting. “They said the first thing we needed to do was get pledges.”
He shared a letter the Coalition sent to the school board, it reads in part, “The undersigned respectfully urge the Board of Trustees of the San Luis Coastal Unified School District to sell Sunnyside School to the community of Los Osos, as currently being negotiated with the Los Osos Community Services District (LOCSD).
“We ask the Board to consider all available options to secure favorable terms to the LOCSD for this sale. Our request is rooted in the same commitment that guides your service as trustees: ensuring the well-being and future of our children. The Sunnyside site represents a unique opportunity to provide our youth with a safe park, sports fields, and open space, where they can play, build friendships, and develop lifelong social skills.”
It continues, “We represent a broad coalition of local organizations and community leaders, including youth groups, senior services, schools, non-profits, service clubs, and childcare providers. Together, we are dedicated to enhancing the health and vitality of Los Osos.”
Freiberg explained that the immediate goal is for the Coalition members to solicit pledges of donations that would be made if and when Los Osos manages to become the purchaser of Sunnyside, which is predicted to list for some $6 million.
A pledge wouldn’t be legally binding, he explained, but would be a promise to donate after the sale is agreed upon. It boils down to “pre-acquisition” issues like securing a purchase agreement, versus “post-acquisition” issues like ongoing operations and maintenance costs, which he said also has to be dealt with. A preliminary estimate of O&M is about $400,000 a year, Freiberg said. The County is working up a more educated estimate of O&M costs, Freiberg said, and should have that figure soon. A preliminary assessment done by The Wallace Group for the CSD, said the O&M costs would depend on the extent of improvements made to the existing facilities and buildings.
SLO County has said it wasn’t interested in Sunnyside School, but Freiberg pointed out that the Supervisors’ vote was 3-2. “We only have to change one vote,” he said.
Morro Bay is in a very similar situation, as a citizens’ group — The Friends of Morro Elementary — has formed and will be working with a City Council Subcommittee and the City Community Development Director to negotiate a purchase by the City of Morro Elementary. The Council recently formed the Subcommittee on Morro Elementary with Councilwoman Zara Landrum and Councilman Bill Luffee.
Morro Elementary’s asking price is some $10 million.
The Sunnyside Coalition has drafted a letter of support, signed by all the community group leaders at their first meeting, and sent it to the School District as a first step in what could turn out to be a long journey, and one with a ticking deadline.
The School District needs an answer before the end of summer otherwise it could open the properties up to public bidding, and once the sites pass from public to private ownership, their value as parks/recreational space would likely be lost as well.
Raising $6 million in such a short time period will not be easy, unless some angel comes down from heaven and guarantees the money. But Freiberg said he’s a pragmatic person and understands that this may take a vote of the public. “We have to acknowledge the likelihood of a ballot measure,” Freiberg said. In that scenario, he said their goal would be to raise as much money as they can to lower the amount needing to be borrowed through a ballot measure and a property tax increase.
The CSD tried this once before, as the CSD charter has a “recreation” aspect. But a ballot measure to activate that taxation measure failed at the ballot box.
As they are envisioning it, once Sunnyside is purchased, the CSD would own it and administer it. Freiberg said the CSD estimates it would only have to hire one additional staffer, an assistant general manager. That position is already needed by the CSD and if this shakes out, they would have more to do than just care for Sunnyside.
As it stands now, the CSD is actively negotiating with the School District, Freiberg said, “on behalf of the community.” Though the CSD would end up owning Sunnyside, it would belong to the people of Los Osos, he said.
If readers would like to make a pledge and get involved with the Coalition, they can email Freiberg at: buysunnysideschool@gmail.com. See the website at: www.buysunnysideschool.com.
The LOCSD website also has a page dedicated the Sunnyside School, see: www.losososcsd.org/updates-regarding-sunnyside-school-site.
Freiberg sees Sunnyside as carrying on a legacy that was left to Los Osos’ residents by the folks who first settled the South Bay and surrounded it with green space.
“Past leaders made decisions on land uses that have given is what we have today,” he explained. “It’s our turn now to be good stewards. I want future generations to have the quality of life we’ve enjoyed.”
