Sale of High School Site Clears Hurdle

The Moorpark school board has given preliminary approval to the sale of the city’s 26-acre former high school campus and playing fields to an Agoura Hills developer.

The Braemar Corp. would pay the district about $3 million for the privilege of building homes on about 16 acres of the prime downtown real estate.

The price the company pays for the property is contingent on how many homes the city allows the company to build on the land, said school board member David Pollock.

The company could build 80 to 120 single-family homes on the property, Pollock said.

The school district would use the money from the sale of the property to attract state matching funds to build a new elementary school on the remaining acreage off Casey Road, where the high school buildings stand.

All the old high school buildings except for the performing arts center and the gymnasium, which is now owned by the Boys & Girls Club, would be torn down. The new elementary school is expected to cost about $6 million and could be finished in time for the 1997-98 school year, Pollock said.

After the high school closed in 1988, the school district and the Moorpark City Council were at loggerheads about what to do with the property. City officials wanted to purchase part of the land for a downtown park, but the district would not sell the property at a reduced price and the city sued.

The case went all the way to the state Supreme Court, which in 1991 ruled in favor of the school district.

The Braemar Corp. has said that it would build moderately priced homes on the land, but the sale is contingent upon city approval of the plans. If the city grants zoning approval, the school district will close the deal.