The Pleasanton Unified School District Board of Trustees continued its discussion last Thursday on declaring almost five acres of the Donlon Elementary School field as surplus land, with most of the trustees signaling early support for selling the land and converting it into roughly two dozen single-family homes.
However, there were still some on the dais who had concerns over letting go of the land and reiterated that the board should continue to consider all of the factors that would come with this potential sale as the district gets set to return at a future board meeting with a final recommendation.
“I do think that the board needs to be really thoughtful and think strategically what will be best for our community dealing with the housing crisis and some of the challenges of making homes affordable, whereas also being cognizant of what would make sense for this particular area of land,” School Board President Kelly Mokashi said during the June 25 board meeting.
Back in January, the school board formed a 7-11 Committee to identify and determine whether it would be in the district’s best interest to keep or sell 4.7 acres of an unused portion of the Donlon field bordered by Denker Drive and Payne Road.
After three public meetings, the committee voted unanimously to declare the property as surplus and subsequently shared those findings with the board on May 14, where the board expressed initial support for selling the land.
But during that May meeting, and at those earlier committee meetings, residents expressed concern about traffic and pedestrian safety; advocated for workforce or affordable housing; and supported the idea for creating more green spaces or even a park.
Because of those comments, the district decided to return to the board last week with several possible options they could pursue if they sell the property.Â
One of the main options presented was building up to 21 single-family homes ranging from one to two stories, which is currently allowed per the city’s zoning rules.
Another option, which is outside of the current zoning, would be to allocate the property for townhomes or stacked flat apartments, according Ahmad Sheikholeslami, assistant superintendent of business services.
He said these could be as tall as three stories and range from 630 square feet to 1,382 square feet — the density would translate to 24 to 30 units per acre, which means there could be anywhere between 96 homes to 130 homes.
This option, however, is not the most feasible because it would require a zoning change, which a developer would have to pursue.Â
“In a typical process this would be a very complex project to move forward,” Sheikholeslami said of the townhouse and stacked flat option. “The other challenges with this type of project is that if the district were to sell it, just to a developer, the developer would know that the current zoning doesn’t meet that and they would have a difficult time meeting those requirements.”
However, Sheikholeslami said if PUSD were to keep the property, the school district could bypass those zoning changes thanks to new state legislation — with the caveat that the district would need funding and a funding mechanism to build that housing, which the district does not have.
Sheikholeslami also explained that the second option would be difficult because it’s not the most common location developers would eye for workforce or affordable housing.Â
Dominic Dutra, one of the district’s real estate consultants, said most developers and cities try to identify locations for affordable or workforce housing near services like mass transit, medical and retail, which is why he said the site would be better suited for the single-family residence plan.
The last option would be for the district to retain the property and have a developer come in to build, which would require a ground lease between PUSD and any future developer. However, Dutra said that would not be viable because it wouldn’t generate revenue for a long period of time.
The majority of the trustees said they prefer the single-family home option with Trustee Justin Brown noting how he can see a couple more units being added to the 21 proposed.
Trustee Charlie Jones also said it makes sense to keep the current zoning for single-family homes because it will be easier to sell and maximize profits from the property.
He also said the smaller project would fit better with the community and would make it easier to address some of the safety and traffic concerns, which was brought up by at least one public speaker at the meeting.
“Whatever we do — if we are going to sell it, if we are going to develop it — much, much more thought needs to go into an actual drop-off lane (and) better, wider roads,” Donlon parent Beth Thompson said during the meeting. “Something needs to be done for the safety of our kids because right now I don’t feel like that’s a priority and I think that’s where it needs to be.”
Trustee Mary Jo Carreon said that in addition to the possibility of enrollment spiking in future years and not having any open space on the campus, she was worried about the lack of affordability when it came to the single-family homes project.
Dutra said for the single-family homes — factoring each home ranging between 2,000 and 3,000 square feet — the current market would put each home at about $2 million in price and that the land value would be priced at around $12 million per lot.Â
He also said that based on the average median income of that area and factoring in the city’s affordable housing ordinance that requires 15% of development projects be marked as affordable, a portion of those $2 million homes could possibly be sold at a third of that total price.
However, he noted that developers could opt out of building affordable homes by paying an in-lieu fee to the city.
Sheikholeslami noted how the district is currently in the process of vacating about seven acres of land at the former district headquarters on Bernal Avenue for future sale and possible development, but added that the operations yard at that site needs to be relocated in order to allow for the sale of the property. He said the sale of the Donlon field could help fund that relocation, which would move that sale and development process forward.
“We won’t be bound by any type of restrictions because we will be the owner, operator,” Sheikholeslami said.
If they went through the “difficult process” of getting the property rezoned for any type of higher density housing, the district might not have as much control and would not be able to get the funding needed to unlock the First and Bernal property, he said.
This, however, was not received well by resident Thomas Choi, who criticized the district’s overall process of selling the land.
“Why do residents and the city have to pay the price for fiscal mismanagement again by sacrificing our sole remaining neighborhood school grounds?” he said.
He also opposed the idea for high density housing development and asked the board to either pause or halt the property sale process.
While Carreon and Trustee Laurie Walker both share similar concerns about losing land, Brown noted that, apart from the Donlon field, the district does still own the Bernal field located above where Village High School used to stand — it’s just leased to the city.
When asked about a potential enrollment spike and the district’s capacity, Sheikholeslami said if the enrollment spike is generated from newly-built housing, the district could enter into agreements that would stipulate the developers either pay certain fees or, depending on the size, set aside land for a new school. If more students are generated from re-housing and not based on new houses, he said the district then has options of increasing capacity at its existing schools.
Mokashi asked about other options beyond building housing such as renting the field out for recreational or sports activities, but Sheikholeslami said the field’s condition is currently really poor and would need a significant amount of investment to upgrade it to a usable field. It would also not generate any significant revenue.
Sheikholeslami said if PUSD was to sell the property, the city and county would have dibs on purchasing and if either municipality decided they need another field, they could negotiate with the district to purchase the land for that purpose.
Following Thursday’s discussion, the district will work on agendizing a resolution to declare the land as surplus for board consideration. If approved, staff will begin soliciting purchase bids from potential developers.
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