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FUHSD seeks to make profit off Gird Road property

At their October 25 meeting, trustees of Fallbrook Union High School District (FUHSD) announced they are looking at selling the district’s Gird Road property.

According to the board meeting agenda, the district acquired the Gird Road site in 1967 for $170,000. The 50-acre site, which was funded by a three-year bond, was projected to be the site of a second campus for the FUHSD. The initial plan was to start construction at the site in 1977.

The district’s growth did not meet the early projections until the late 1980s and ‘90s, when the idea to pass construction bonds to build the second high school was considered. However, the bond election was not successful until 1994, when the money was used to improve and expand the existing high school campus.

As it stands, the district has determined that the Gird Rd. site is not suitable for construction as a school site because of the current costs to modify the topography of the land, environmental impact mitigation, and the property’s proximity to the Sycamore Ranch development.

In August, FUHSD board member Frank Cerda requested that the board of trustees consider generating revenue from the Gird Road property.

“The board has approved to continue its conversations with San Diego’s Department of Parks and Recreation, which has expressed interest in having the property be a part of its park systems associated with the SR76 corridor,” said FUHSD superintendent Dale Mitchell. “The board has directed the district staff to come up with a type of plan that would involve the sale of the property. We are going to make sure that we investigate all the requirements associated with the sale of the property, the timeline of the process and what the timeline for the sale would be.”

Though various commercial developers and public agencies have shown interest in purchasing the property in previous years, Mitchell stated, “There have not been any moments when the property has almost been sold.”

The Gird Rd. property is located within the Bonsall Union Elementary School District, according to notations on the board meeting agenda. If the Bonsall district is successful in its unification efforts, Mitchell stated that the district would take possession of the property as a result of asset distribution. If the property were to be sold, Bonsall would still acquire its portion of assets, but not in the form of property.

“However, I’m not aware of the Bonsall district showing interest to acquire the property,” Mitchell.

Cerda informed the FUHSD board of trustees that the property may be sold for between $50,000 and $100,000 an acre, according to Mitchell.

“However, in this economic environment, the board figured it would be wisest to use $50,000 as our figure to use for the 50-acre property,” said Mitchell. “Our guess is that the property would be sold for $2.5 million dollars. When we are serious about selling the property, we will want to have the property appraised.”

Mitchell and his staff were directed to report back to the board of trustees in three months with an update on the sale process.

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