SLO County housing development would overburden schools, district says

With the Dana Reserve housing development in Nipomo nearing its first Planning Commission hearing next week, the project is facing pushback from the local school district.

In a Sept. 27 letter to the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission circulated by the Nipomo Action Committee as a news release, Lucia Mar Unified School District Superintendent Paul Fawcett expressed concerns about the project’s impact on the school district.

According to Fawcett, the project and its estimated 1,318 homes could stress the capacity of nearby schools, including Dorothea Lange Elementary School, Mesa Middle School , Dana Elementary School and Nipomo High School.

“Our review of the project’s environmental iImpact report (EIR) underscores the considerable strain this development will impose on our already burdened facilities,” Fawcett said in the letter. “Our current school sites clearly cannot accommodate the projected student influx. Furthermore, the EIR hasn’t addressed the inevitable increase in vehicular traffic around our schools.”

However, developer NKT Commercial pushed back on Fawcett’s suggestion that the school system cannot accomodate the projected influx of around 750 students.

“The project’s construction phase is anticipated to span a duration of 10 years or more, thereby resulting in a gradual, incremental increase in enrollment,” NKT Commercial owner Nick Tompkins said in a statement to The Tribune. “Concurrently, we are collaborating closely with the school district to ensure they are well-prepared to accommodate the incoming students.”

School district: Cost to expand schools would be high

In his letter, Fawcett said the district worked with a demographer, who projected an additional 448 elementary, 145 middle and 145 high school students would join the district once the project is full.

Though Nipomo High School may be able to absorb the influx of new students, Mesa Middle School, Nipomo Elementary School and Dana Elementary School would all need “significant expansions,” Fawcett wrote.

If the district opted to expand its facilities to accommodate the new students, those improvements could cost roughly $12.4 million, amounting to a $6.6 million shortfall in the district’s budget, Fawcett wrote.

That number could climb to $18.1 million if the project removed the age restrictions on 417 senior-restricted units, which would lead to a higher number of families living in the development, bringing the deficit to $9.1 million, Fawcett wrote.

“State funding is insufficient, and statutory school fees fall far short of covering the actual costs of new school construction,” Fawcett wrote. “We continue to engage in constructive dialogues with Mr. Tompkins and have proposed a mitigation agreement outlining collaborative approaches to address the impacts on our schools.”

Fawcett also took issue with the project’s potential traffic impacts.

Children growing up in the Dana Reserve development would attend Dorothea Lange Elementary School, which would likely require the district to change its boundaries, as the school is currently at capacity with no room for expansion, Fawcett wrote.

As a result, elementary students living in Dana Reserve would likely be assigned to Dana and Nipomo elementary schools, Fawcett wrote.

According to Lucia Mar enrollment data, the district peaked at 10,971 students in 2004 and currently serves 9,591 students, though that decline comes from the whole district, not just the four schools in Nipomo.

“County Public Works and Parks will work with the school district to update the Facilities Master Plan to make appropriate improvements for circulation,” Tompkins said in an email statement to The Tribune. “There is ample time for that process given the construction and occupancy schedule.”

Developer already on board for school funding

Tompkins said his company has already agreed to pay above the required school fees established by 1998’s SB 50.

Under that law, developers must pay school fees to offset the impacts of new development within a school district’s boundaries.

These fees can be set at three levels, depending on the type and scope of development, according to the California Office of Public School Construction.

Level 1 fees are the default, and charge developers $4.79 per square foot of residential construction and $0.78 per square foot of commercial building.

Level 2 boosts the fee per square foot above the Level 1 baseline based on special need backed up by a facility study.

Level 3 fees are rarer and only apply when the district is not receiving state school facility bond funds.

Tompkins agreed that while Nipomo High School likely won’t face as many impacts from new students, other schools will likely have to add classrooms, unless the district used busing to get students to other schools in the district.

Tompkins said prior to Fawcett’s letter, he already offered to pay Level 2 school fees for the development without asking the district to do a nexus study as a “good faith gesture.”

“As a local, I am OK paying more, as demonstrated by our offer, but not some open-ended irresponsible obligation,” Tompkins said in an email to The Tribune. “The district’s office (and) Paul Fawcett specifically has been very responsive and available as we try to resolve this and get everyone on the same page related to state laws.”