Schools
School Board Clears the Way to Settle Whispering Hills Dispute
A tentative settlement with the housing developers says the school district is not responsible for making the final $6-million payment for the land on which it built San Juan Hills High School.
The is getting closer to settling a long-standing property boundary dispute that has stalled construction of the football stadium at for years.
The board of trustees on Monday approved a tentative settlement with the developer of what is known as the Whispering Hills tract, a 155-home planned community slated to be built on land next to the high school. The San Juan Capistrano City Council still needs to sign off on the agreement and will discuss the issue May 17.
“You have to push this snowball over the crest of the hill. Then it gets going. That’s where we are now,” said Newport Beach-based lawyer Alex Bowie, who’s been handling negotiations for the district.
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The Whispering Hills builder, Rancho San Juan Development, sued the school district in 2009 over the last payment it said the district owed for the land that eventually became the school. But the school district said it was planning to make the $6-million payment with proceeds from special taxes, known as Mello Roos fees, raised by the Whispering Hills residents. Then the economy went bust and the homes were never built, so no taxes were collected.
Under the tentative settlement agreement, the Community Facilities District, the legal entity that will collect the extra property taxes, will owe the developer for the final payment, not the school district. Additionally, the developer and school district will swap out various swaths of land, including hillside property on which the home-side stands will sit.
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The district and the developer have been in . Because the agreement was not reached sooner, the stadium will .
For Stallion football fans, that means another season of trekking out to eight miles away in Las Flores to watch “home games.”
“Come the 2012-13 year and we get to homecoming, the game can be played at San Juan Hills High School, yes?” asked Trustee John Alpay.
“Yes,” responded Ron Lebs, deputy superintendent of business and support services.
Capo will still pursue the countersuit it filed in 2009. In that suit, district officials allege they overpaid for the property.
The school district has already purchased the bleachers and is waiting to complete the land swap before it goes out to bid on the $1.5 million-project to complete the stadium, which will include a synthetic track.
