With the state budget crisis leaving schools in a crunch, two local school districts have combed through their assets in search of unused properties to sell or lease.

The Lucia Mar Unified and Orcutt Union school districts have each identified unoccupied properties that could potentially generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue.

Other local districts say they don’t have any surplus property to speak of, but would likely opt to sell it if they did.

“This is a very prudent and wise thing for the district to be doing,” said Carol Florence of Oasis Landscape and Architecture and Planning, the company helping Lucia Mar package and prepare two properties for sale to developers.

This year, California school districts have taken a roughly $4 billion hit in funding cuts stemming from a state budget deficit that experts predict will grow to $28 billion by 2010 unless the Legislature takes drastic action.

The cuts have taken a particularly strong toll on Orcutt and Lucia Mar, who are experiencing the double whammy of state budget cuts and lost revenue from declining enrollment — a phenomenon that continues to worsen as young families who can no longer afford to live on the Central Coast move away.

As a result, Lucia Mar decided to declare two vacant Pismo Beach properties surplus, paving the way for their sale to a developer who wants to build single- and multiple-family housing units, Florence said.

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One 17,150-square-foot parcel on Price Canyon Road near Bello Street has been earmarked for 10 multifamily housing units, and a 3-acre lot on the Judkins Middle School campus has been earmarked for 10 single-family homes.

Since the properties haven’t been

appraised, the district doesn’t yet have an estimate on how much revenue their sale could bring, but district officials say the money would go toward the matching funds needed to build a facility to house Lucia Mar’s new Culinary Arts Academy, among other projects.

“We’re always very aware of using our assets ... for the greatest public good and the best return on public funds,” Assistant Superintendent of Business Mary Stark said. “That’s our goal.”

Lucia Mar, however, will hang onto two other unoccupied properties — one in Nipomo dubbed the Craig property, the other in Arroyo Grande dubbed the Hidden Oaks property — because the district has designated the parcels as future school sites.

But, until enrollment grows enough to make it practical for Lucia Mar to build the school, the Craig property may become a temporary storage site for portable classrooms to save money on taxes; state law requires school districts to pay taxes on properties that remain unoccupied or unused, though properties being used are generally tax-exempt.

While Lucia Mar prepares to sell two properties, Orcutt plans to lease its surplus property to a developer to build a senior living center.

The approximately 9.4-acre vacant lot, which is adjacent to the district’s Dyer Street offices, will be leased for 60 years and bring in a projected revenue of $500,000 to $700,000 per year for facilities projects.

“We think it’s an opportunity for the district to get an ongoing revenue stream and take advantage of the ... bubble of seniors going through,” said Marysia Ochej, Orcutt’s assistant superintendent of business services.

Meanwhile, the Santa Maria-Bonita, Guadalupe Union and Santa Maria Joint Union High School Districts don’t have the advantage of owning excess property.

“We’re using everything we own,” said Jeff Hearn, superintendent of the Santa Maria High School District. In fact, “We’re in negotiations for our fourth high school property, but that’s years down the road.”

November 24, 2008