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1972-09-12 Special CC Minutes481 SPECIAL MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND THE BOARD OF EDUCATION OF THE CITY OF ALAMEDA HELD TUESDAY - - - - SEPTEMBER 12, 1972 The meeting convened in the Council Chamber at 4:00 o'clock p.m. with President La Croix and President Nolin presiding jointly. ROLL CALL: The roll was called and Councilmen Fore, Levy, Longaker and President La Croix, Jr., (4), were noted present. Absent: Councilman McCall, (1), who arrived at 4:12 o'clock p.m. On roll call by the Clerk, the following members of the Board of Education were noted present: Mrs. Cavanaugh, Mrs. Denyven, Messrs. Simpson, Weber and President Nolin, (5). Absent: None. Also present were Messrs. H. D. Weller, City Manager; Mark J. Hanna, City Engineer; Donald F. Johnson, Planning Director; D. Grant Mainland, Director of Recreation and Parks; John D. Goss, Assistant City Manager, of the City staff and the following members of the Alameda Unified School District staff: Dr. Robert McConnell, Superintendent of Schools; Messrs. Clarence Kline, Administrative Assistant; Vincent Garner, Consultant; and Capt. William B. Kirkland, Jr., Chairman of the Sites and Facilities Committee. The Notice and Agenda of the special meeting had been acknowledged by the Councilmen and was on file. The purpose of the meeting was for presentation and discussion of the School District Sites and Facilities and Financing Plan for proposed new schools. NEW BUSINESS: 1. President La Croix expressed the pleasure of the Council in holding this joint meeting with the Board of Education and School District staff to learn more about the studies of the Committees. He invited President Nolin to speak. President Nolin expressed the appreciation of the Board for the opportunity of meeting with the Council on this subject. He said the School Board had set forth in the fall of 1971 on a program which it hoped would be of great concern and interest to the residents of the City with regard to the school children. A committee of citizens had been set up to provide the School District with a Master Plan for Education and more than 250 individuals had participated in the study. In conjunction with the study, the Board had requested a Master Plan for Sites and Facilities and for Financial Planning. Because of the long - range effect of these Plans on the school children and the citizens, the Board felt it was of utmost importance that its members be aware of the interests of the Council and City staff with regard to the program. President Nolin said Capt. William B. Kirkland, Jr., had accepted the chairmanship of the Sites and Facilities Committee and Mr. Donald J. Gehb had had the same responsibility on the Financing Committee. The groups had worked in conjunction with the Educational Planning Committee and had come up with a document and presentation of the proposed Master Plan for Sites and Facilities and for Financial Planning. He said the Board, in order to make a decision in the matter, was most desirous of having the suggestions and recommendations of the members of the Council and the City staff. He said the Sites and Facilities Committee had been assisted by Mr. Vincent Garner of the firm of Knight, Gladieux & Smith, Inc., well - known consultants, and he would be available to answer questions. He then invited Capt. Kirkland to make his presentation. Councilman McCall entered the meeting at this time and was noted present. Capt. Kirkland expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to make his presentation as one of the most important things about the City was that it made a good attempt to communicate ideas, thoughts, philo- sophies and disagreements and he believed this was very important to its success. He called attention to the full report on Sites and Facilities and the short version provided for information. Capt. Kirkland, with the aid of charts, then presented the Plan recommended to the Alameda Unified School District, containing recommendations for schools to meet the overall requirements of the Educational Master Plan. To satisfy the criteria, the Sites and Facilities Plan had been developed and the Financial Planning Committee had then recommended the means of providing the financing to achieve the goal. He said the State Field Act, a section of the California Code first developed following the Long Beach earth- quake, with several amendments and modifications, was the motivating force behind the effort and it required that unsafe schools be vacated by June 30, 1975. It required that the School Boards have a precise structural engineering study made of all buildings constructed prior to the 1933 earthquake and if not structurally sound they must be made sound or be abandoned. The Alameda schools so affected were the Alameda High School Main and Science wing, Haight, Lincoln and Porter Schools, which represented 30% of the capacity of the School District. The design and construction lead time to replace the schools was between twenty -four and thirty months and the matter could not be put off if the deadline was to be met. Capt. Kirkland gave a comprehensive and informative explanation of various factors of the Plan such as walking distance standards, desirable enrollment sizes, site standards, with specific consideration of physical education needs and the effect of possible year -round utilization, which would reduce the total capacity required by 20 %. Capt. Kirkland pointed out Phase I would satisfy the immediate urgent needs of the City, taking care of the Field Act problem and one other difficult. It was decided it would not be feasible to rehabilitate the Alameda High School in its present location and provide an adequate site size and it had been recom- mended that a new facility be constructed on approximately twenty -five acres of land just across the Bay Farm Island Bridge on the fill area. It was recommended that it be built for a permanent capacity of 1400 students and portable buildings be rented for another 300 students so the decision would not have to be made immediately with regard to the full -year utilization program. The cost was estimated at $5.6 million dollars. It was recommended that the athletic fields at Encinal High School, which were too low, be brought up to standard grade levels to provide proper drainage and full use, at a cost of $100,000. With regard to the "middle" schools, in order to stay within the correct enrollment ranges the best combination had been found to be a four - school system properly located and the most promising were the following: Chipman, which would be enlarged with Federal funds and possibly additional land would be acquired; Wood School, for which it was recommended that the present Grand Street School District offices be taken over as classrooms to accommodate additional students. It was proposed that the administrative personnel move into the abandoned Alameda High School facilities, which would accommo- date almost all of the District functions, the west wing to be used for the continuation school. This would mean that the auditorium could be saved and be available for civic and other needs. Capt. Kirkland said, from a practical standpoint, in the event of an earthquake it would be one problem to get 1700 students and 200 teachers out of a building, contrasted to evacuating 150 adults. He said his understanding of the structural soundness of the High School was that the classroom sections on both sides of the corridors would collapse in the event of an earthquake. With regard to Washington School, on which the enrollment was shown up to 550 accommodated in the present building, it was on an inadequate site, particularly for use as a middle school. In the projections the middle school child population shifted and it was found there were too many good school buildings in the West End, whereas by 1985 a middle school would be needed on Bay Farm Island. By reshuffling the attendance, a new middle school could be constructed on the Island and Washington School would be phased out. After study of several possibilities for relocating Lincoln School, the conclusion had been that it was beautifully located to best satisfy the requirements and it had been recommended that the present structure be torn down, a new middle school be constructed on the site and additional private property be acquired, a street abandonment be requested of the City, and the schoolyard be enlarged. This was one of the Field Act schools presently needed. The elementary schools would continue in use with increased enrollment in most cases, with the exception of Haight, on which replacement was recommended with a K -5 school to house 600 students. Porter School would be required if the present nine -month system were to be retained but not if the year -round utili- zation scheme should be adopted. To avoid having to make this decision, the recommendation was that this School be replaced with portables to house 550 elementary students and, with the removal of the High School, some of the High School yard area could be used to augment the Porter School yard. This would avoid committing the School District and the taxpayers to buying more permanent schools than needed if and when the decision should be to go to a year -round utilization program. On Bay Farm Island, there were at the present time sufficient elementary school children to require a school and it was recommended that one be constructed to meet the great need. Capt. Kirkland said the present Miller School building needed replacement and it was on the Federal funding list, the project had been approved and it was expected that a new building would be constructed on Navy property to be donated to the School Board in time to meet the need. Capt. Kirkland explained the cost estimates and the program recommended to finance the proposed construction, at a capital expenditure of $13.8 million dollars, $12 million of which must be financed by the District. He pointed out if orderly growth were stopped in the City it would represent a serious economic disadvantage to the school system. In Phase II, Capt. Kirkland said, over the next seven years after completing the first group, if the school system should remain on the nine - months schedule, an addition to Alameda High School would be needed to replace the portables, a new Bay Farm Island middle school for 650 children would be needed, the Porter School portables would have to be replaced with a permanent building to house 550 students, two additional elementary schools would be needed on Bay Farm Island and one on the Del Monte property. If the School Board had by 1980 adopted a full -year utilization program the requirement would drop so that the High School on Bay Farm Island would not have to be enlarged, the middle school would have fewer students and a school could be built with the portable buildings around the City, Porter School would not be needed, Bay Farm Island would need only one school and the Del Monte school would still be needed but possibly not on the Del Monte property and Mastick School could be used. He said it was felt plans should be made for a school on the Del Monte property and the land should be acquired. In summary, Capt. Kirkland said in Phase I there was a $12 million dollar program whether the Board should go to year -round schools or not. In Phase II the difference was shown between the nine -month system at a cost of over $20 million dollars and the full utilization scheme at over $15 million dollars, approximately a 20% saving. He said the school sites which had been agreed to with Utah International, Inc., for Bay Farm Island, including the site picked for a high school, had been approved by the State Schoolhouse Planning people. There was a question and answer exchange by the Councilmen and Captain Kirkland, Dr. McConnell and Mr. Garner. In the discussion, Capt. Kirkland pointed out that, regardless of the type of residential development allowed in the City of Alameda, there were approximately ten children per acre, within the range of density permitted. Councilman McCall inquired, if the bond issue should not pass, what the penalty would be for non- compliance, stating he felt the Legislature would not force one city to close its schools as there would be other cities in the same situation. Dr. McConnell said he was not aware of any penalty which had been established, that non - compliance would simply be a violation of the law. Councilman McCall said he had for many years visualized joint use of the Alameda High School buildings and facilities for the City government and School District offices, with the utility companies included, and inquired if this proposal had been pursued. 483 Capt. Kirkland said he, as Chairman of the Committee had done just as Councilman McCall suggested, that he felt the building would be a wonderful place for the City Hall; whether or not this could be accomp- lished would take a great deal of effort but he would think there was adequate space to house both of these agencies without crowding. It might be decided to leave one school function in one of the sites but he felt this could be done without any difficulty. At the completion of the discussion, President La Croix complimented Capt. Kirkland on his presentation, also the Board and Superintendent McConnell. He said he hoped the Council and the Board could sit down and discuss matters again in the future as it was in the best interests of the City. To a question by Councilman Levy as to the procedures which must be taken to arrive at the proper conclu- sion, Capt. Kirkland said as the next step there must be an approved Plan adopted by the Board and that was scheduled to occur on September 26 or the following meeting. Secondly, the Board must approve indivi- dual plans for each of the schools, such as the Haight School Plan which would be considered that evening, and those must be sent to the State for the conditional apportionment. Then the School District must by resolution determine what the bond propositions would say, make a determination as to which election or special election date could best accommodate itself to the needs, secure the County Counsel's approval and the County Board of Supervisors would then order the election and, hopefully, it would pass. President Nolin said he would like to echo the statements of President La Croix, that the Board appreciated this joint meeting as it would like to cooperate in every way and it did not want to do anything which would be at variance with the Council. ADJOURNMENT: 2. There being no further business to come before the meeting, the Council and the Board of Education, meeting jointly, adjourned. Respectfully submitted, City Clerk.