A 12-acre plot of land nestled within an affluent northeast Morgan Hill neighborhood is again targeted as the future site of a new $20 million public elementary school, according to school officials.
While experts have not yet determined the best way—or the cost—to remove potentially dangerous toxins from the soil, Morgan Hill Unified School District’s Board of Education Dec. 15 unanimously approved a nearly $1 million design contract for the Peet Road elementary school.
Assistant Superintendent Kirsten Perez explained that the district obtained a Targeted Site Investigation grant from the State Department of Toxic Substances Control. That grant, which is estimated at $20-$30,000, “will be used to determine what remediation would be necessary to use the site as an elementary school,” she said. The exact date that work will be conducted has not yet been determined, according to district staff.
It was about one year ago that school officials stalled their efforts to develop the land, which is located on the corner of Peet Road and Mission Avenida about a mile east of Cochrane Road. It was donated by the Borello family in 2003 for the sole purpose of building an elementary school. The school, which will be funded through the $198 million Measure G capital improvements bond along with developer fees, will be named S.G. Borello Elementary School in honor of the donating family.
In Nov. 2014, Perez said the district still wanted to fulfill its “commitment” to the surrounding community. However, the costly nature of cleaning up the soil was forcing them to look elsewhere for land to build the district’s ninth elementary school.
“The district is still looking to purchase (other) property based on the Morgan Hill 2035 Plan,” Perez said, referring to the citywide General Plan Update and related long-term growth planning efforts. “The district would need to acquire several sites in order to accommodate the projected growth in students.”
In closed sessions on Nov. 17 and Dec. 15, district officials discussed negotiations with property owners for the “potential purchase” of lands on San Pedro Avenue and Tennant Avenue, according to those public agendas.
The Morgan Hill draft General Plan Update document, published earlier this month, recommends a population cap of 64,600 in 2035. The document was created by city staff, volunteers and consultants, and is based largely on public input.
Morgan Hill’s current population is around 42,000, and the school district has an enrollment of 8,409, according to an April 2015 study conducted by School Works, GIS. With a total capacity of 9,754 students, the district is projected to grow slightly over the next six years with a projected enrollment of 8,668 students by 2020, the report concludes.
Design contract approved, but more soil tests needed
With no construction schedule set for the development of the Peet Road land, the district’s attorneys and those of Lupine Investors, LLC for the property owners “continued to meet and negotiate in closed session on the best possible way to make that happen at a future date.” However, ownership of the site has not been transferred to the district as of December 2015, according to Perez.
“The next step would be to open escrow and once the conditions of escrow are met then the property would be transferred,” Perez explained. “It is typical to have at least a one-year escrow process for schools because of the state’s lengthy approval process for new school sites.”
At the Dec. 15 meeting, the board approved a $992,437 contract with McKim Design Group for the master plan and design services for the Peet Road elementary school. None of the six trustees, three who were on the board at the time it was first introduced, asked for an update on the soil testing before voting on the design contract. Prior to that, the board approved a $22,000 contract with School Site Solutions to perform California Department of Education site approval services and CEQA compliance services.
The Times made a California Public Records Request in November 2014 for all documents pertaining to the Peet Road property.
An Oct. 10, 2014 Phase II Site Assessment conducted by Danville-based McCloskey Consultants for Environmental & Geologic Assessments turned up “anthropogenic (man-made) contaminants (pesticides) in the soil in the agricultural field area that exceed the (state’s) acceptable risk guidelines for school uses of 1 in one million excess cancer risk.”
The district has not done any additional soil testing on the Peet Road property since then, Perez said.
According to the 2014 report, previous attempts to remediate the soil were performed in 2004 and 2005 after an initial site assessment in 2003. But the latest assessment still detected “elevated concentrations of dieldrin (which) exceeded the single compound United States Environmental Protection Agency Regional Screening Levels for sensitive uses including schools.” The dieldrin was at .19 concentration in milligrams per kilograms at the site; the USEPA RSL limit is .0333.
Soil contaminated with dieldrin, which was fully banned by the EPA by 1987, can have harmful effects on humans. According the EPA, it decreases the effectiveness of the immune system, may increase infant mortality, reduces reproductive success, may cause cancer, may cause birth defects and damages the kidneys.
“The source of the contamination is likely the historical application of agricultural chemicals in the formerly farmed area even though there was previous treatment of soils,” reads the Phase II ESA Report.
“The fastest, but also the most expensive alternative is to remove the affected soil from the site and (have it) off-hauled to an appropriate facility, likely a landfill, and replacement soils brought back in,” according to the report’s conclusion. One of the reports says this could cost up to $2 million.
At the Dec. 15 meeting, the district was unable to answer Board President Bob Benevento’s question about a “speculative” start date for the elementary school project. Superintendent Steve Betando said the district needs to form a project committee and work with the City of Morgan Hill before determining a start date. MHUSD Director of Construction Casino Fajardo added they first need to finalize a master plan before targeting a start date.
“We’re looking at a phase-in project that might bring in students who are just starting school first and just grow that,” said Betando. “Right now, we’re impacted at our other elementaries and, so no matter what happens, we’re going to have to develop a boundary committee related to how students are going to be designated to build the school.”
Trustee David Gerard asked to what extent district staff would be looking to establish socio-economic balance and diversity at the new school. But Betando said the intent of any traditional elementary school is to serve the surrounding neighborhood.
“The preference is to draw students from that community. It helps with transportation and everything else,” Betando said. “You’re really bound by the community area, and that’s what the school is supposed to target, the population that surrounds the school.”
