Wants, Needs, and Two Lots of Land

S.B. School District Weighs Development Options

by Ethan Stewart

It has been almost exactly two years since the Santa Barbara
School Board decided to explore the possibility of developing their
two open-space property holdings in the name of district revenue
and perhaps employee housing. However, as the final report on the
feasibility of building out these two properties was being
presented to the board Tuesday night by the UniDev Corporation, it
was abundantly clear to all those in attendance that the journey
toward a decision on the future of the holdings has — for better or
worse — only just begun. Or as board member Laura Malakoff said,
with no small amount of consternation, “It’s going to be a long
process and I’m not sure I want to start that tonight.”

Faced with a truly impaired elementary district budget and a
secondary schools budget that is just a shade or two healthier, the
district can no longer afford to pay the nearly $100,000 in annual
taxes on the properties — not to mention the fact that, in an age
of declining enrollment and gridlocked teacher salary negotiations,
the allure of a possible new revenue stream has never looked
better. Add to that a local real estate market that pretty much
prices out any would-be buyers who make their living teaching, and
you have a situation that practically deman ds that the board do
something with their golden-egg acreage.