Other Choices Also Under Discussion : College Center Proposed for Dana School Site

A new San Diego community college center would be placed at the abandoned Dana Junior High School site in Point Loma under a proposal made public Wednesday to solve the long-festering issue of what to do with the school.

Under the plan, the community college district would spend as much as $5 million to restore the badly vandalized school and establish a regional education center offering courses tailored to Point Loma residents. The plan could also provide recreation fields and special courses for the nearby and cramped Point Loma High School campus, as well as cultural activities in Dana’s well-equipped, 750-seat auditorium.

In return for receiving the 13-acre site for at least 25 years, the community college district would give the San Diego Unified School District its Midway regional education center, which sits in the middle of the commercially oriented Sports Arena area. The school district could sell the property to generate income for schools in areas with growing student populations.

‘Not a Pipe Dream’

“This is not a pipe dream,” Community College District Chancellor Garland Peed said in an interview Wednesday. “We have been talking about it with (school district officials) and I am personally excited about it.”

The idea was made public Wednesday at a San Diego city school board meeting by a special task force on Dana that was established in May by board chairman Kay Davis. Davis stressed that the proposal is preliminary and will require further community meetings and additional discussions with community college officials.

“This is subject to a lot of further work,” Davis said, noting that the task force also presented two other alternative uses for Dana on Wednesday and that others may surface from the community. The task force’s other proposals were: converting the entire site into a park and using the school for some part of the America’s Cup yachting challenge in 1991, such as housing teams.

“But I personally think the (college center) idea is the most practical so far,” Davis said. A park could require up to $100 a year in special assessments for nearby residents, she said. And the America’s Cup proposal, first floated as an idea in July, already has generated controversy among Point Loma residents because of possible traffic congestion.

Davis said, however, that she hoped that workers could be at Dana within six months to begin to restore the building for some public use.

Community Support Needed

“We have to have something that has most of the community supporting it,” Davis said. “But the bottom line is that the building has been empty too long (since June, 1983), and I hope now we can move forward on coming up with a solution.” Public meetings on the alternatives will be held Oct. 21 and 28.

The Point Loma community has been at odds with the school district for several years, since the district proposed leasing Dana for 99 years to developers for high-density housing. The predominantly single-family neighborhood has distrusted district motives ever since, even after the board this spring cut from 99 years to 25 years the maximum time for a lease, a move that makes demolition of existing buildings uneconomical to potential developers.

In addition, the San Diego City Council this spring passed new zoning restrictions on closed school sites that restrict uses to public activities unless special variances are given.

Davis appointed her six-member task force, which includes vociferous opponents of past district property policies, to work up alternatives within the time and zoning constraints.

Meeting Needs

“The school district can’t fix up the buildings because we don’t have the cash and the community wants the existing buildings fixed up and used for educational activity, with some park and recreation use, with community access, with all parking on site and with no traffic jams,” Davis said. “We are trying to get as much of that as possible.”

Davis said the community college proposal could be a “real benefit” for Point Loma if specific plans include landscaping, sufficient parking, help for the Point Loma High campus, and courses tailored for the area.

“We’ve had two meetings between our officials and those of the community college and it sounds like things could work if there is a lot of community input and support,” Davis said.

Peed said Wednesday: “From our vantage point, the attraction is a larger educational facility than what we have now . . . to allow us to expand educational offerings to the community, with a nice cafeteria and nice auditorium, very attractive as a center.”

Peed said that the district would have to issue special bonds to finance the $5 million required to renovate the buildings, “but we have wherewithal to do that.”

Peed said that the district would probably offer numerous classes in computers and business at an expanded campus, and include drama and other cultural offerings to take advantage of the school’s large auditorium. He also saw no major problem in making facilities available to Point Loma High, noting that San Diego City College and San Diego High School share facilities already.

“To do anything other than educational programs there would be sad,” Peed said. “We can give them the Midway site since they are interested in the income (from a sale), and we are interested in a nice educational facility.”

Fingers Crossed

A member of Davis’ task force, Point Loma activist Anne T. Jackson, said she “has her fingers crossed concerning the viability of a community college center.”

“It’s very important to get a consensus in the community and to have no negative impacts from a proposal,” said Jackson, vice chairman of the Point Loma Village Assn. “If it can serve the immediate neighborhood and help Point Loma High, I think it would be a good idea . . . but this community is still a little leery of the school district.”

Davis said that preliminary figures concerning a park on the entire site indicated that residents within a one-mile radius would be assessed $100 a year, or more, to pay for park construction. The committee does not believe residents would be willing to tax themselves to that extent, she said.

In addition, the America’s Cup proposal faces several hurdles, Davis said. The challenge by New Zealand boating interests to a 1991 date has at least temporarily put on hold any discussion of Dana’s use for a Cup challenge. Also, America’s Cup officials would only want the site for four or five years, leaving up in the air the problem of what it would be used for during the 20 or more years remaining on a long-term lease.

The alternatives will be presented to Point Loma residents at several public meetings by the school board’s advisory committee on facilities.

“The community is going to want details on how the community college plan would work, such as where would parking be located, etc.,” Davis said. “I don’t want anyone to think this is a ‘done deal,’ but I want the community to have enough specifics to be able to come to some agreement.”

Davis and school officials will continue discussions with Peed and his staff, and will make a presentation to the community college board next month, she said.