Surplus Property Committee

001we're like all right I'll just give a brief intro thanks everyone for being here today um for our 7-Eleven meeting and I will um throw it over to our chairperson to get us started bye and good afternoon um I'm gonna call the meeting to order at uh 501 501. and we'll proceed with roll call Richard Brown Stephen Castro president here Edward palwa present Vanessa Jones present Donnie Lou absent Hector Miranda Terry madhuras absent bam Perdomo present Karen rugley present Lori Ray president thank you if I could just remind everyone that we have to pull the mic directly directly directly in front of us before we start speaking um we'll move on to 3.1 public comment do we have any public comment on agenda and non-agenda items yes we do and we have Mickey Carpenter at

002the podium good evening Surplus properties committee members my name is Mickey Carpenter I'm director of Community Resources for the city of Azusa and the divisions that my department oversees are the divisions of recreation Senior Services family services and transportation and we are just really grateful and proud of our relationship that we have with Azusa Unified School District it shows through the many projects that we partner on including the summer activities including day camp and swim and we are very grateful that for that relationship and the sponsorship that ausd provides in addition to the summer nutrition program thank you very much for that I wanted to share a little bit about what's going on in the city when it comes to my department because I think there's a lot of potential alignment with some of the

003conversations that I've been hearing with regard to Surplus properties committee as well as to the school board and um just thought I would make a few comments here tonight so I'm also coming at this from my background which is also rooted in healthcare public health and in education um that's sort of the lens that I look through as I develop and we continue to reorganize Our Community Resources Department um and what I'm seeing is that there's a lot of alignment particularly with your community schools initiative and we have known that from the beginning because we have an initiative that's called all in for Azusa and that is a cross-sector collaborative of groups all over that actually all over the region really that serve Azusa coming together to provide greater programs and services for the community

004without necessarily creating new programs and services we are helping to leverage the existing Partnerships so that we can do more for our residents here all in for Azusa has been in existence for about three and a half years and there are many pilot projects and working groups that we have going including things like Workforce Development a senior network of Care Community engagement and diversity but one of the ones that has probably developed the most is Our Youth and Family Center and that's only been in existence about 10 months but because of the Partnerships we've developed over the last few years we were able to do everything that you see in your brochure in front of you so this is just an example of some of the things that we're doing at the Youth and Family

005Center over the summer and so I encourage you to take a look at that some of our partners include of course ausd Azusa Pacific University several departments at Apu also with other non-profit groups including the YMCA the YWCA we also have the boys and girls club that are offering programs this summer and so you'll see that there's a wide variety of activities from Fitness to health Recreation to arts and crafts Rubik's Cube classes stem programming and and much more including music and art and the other and additional activities so please take a look at that and think of us as you consider the uses of some of the the properties that you're looking at I know I've heard things like Community Center that kind of thing the goal of Our Youth and Family Center is

006not for these services to to just stay in its current location we want it to be spread throughout the community and in every corner resistance so thank you for your time tonight thank you Mickey do we have any other public comment no other public comment we will move on to agenda item 4.0 approval of the minutes can I get a motion for approval of the minutes a motion to approve the minute you Karen rugley moved just remember to say our names after emotions please your bike's not on it's even Castro second again um all in favor hi hi I'll opposed any discussion the motion has passed item 5.0 discussion and review 5.1 review revised draft of committee report and discussion of structure content and drafting so um in advance of the meeting tonight I sent

007a draft of the report to each of the committee members by email with some changes that I had made from the prior um from the prior meeting based based on you know comments discussion and requests um for for that report it's also in in the binders in the handouts that are in each of your binders um and I think this item will really be the focus of our meeting tonight but the goal is to you know just kind of review in detail and give us some additional time to to talk through the content the findings and the recommendations I know when we when we left our last meeting there was um there was some more conversation to be had the committee felt like we needed another meeting to really have additional discussion about how to

008formulate the findings and recommendations um so we can you know certainly walk through the report um and then you know we can facilitate additional discussion on the content um and I can highlight some of the changes that I've made from from our last discussion um to to try to encapsulate what we discussed um at the last meeting um so just to review um the the format of the report we have the cover page we have the executive summary that talks about um kind of the way that this uh that this committee was formulated it lists out all of the members um we explain uh the particulars from the Education Code about the duties and responsibilities of the committee um then we list out the properties at issue and we have the date um on which

009the Board of Education asks for those properties to be reviewed by the Surplus property committee um I've listed out the dates that we've met here and then I'll continue to do those as we have a meeting in July and August as well potentially just so it's clear you know exactly the dates that the committee met to do its work um then I explain um in this this next paragraph we talk about all of the data and information that was presented to the committee as a part of their review um this is here based on feedback that I've received from prior committees where they uh were very insistent on it wanting to be clear you know what they looked at and what they were presented with in in um in order to come to the findings

010and recommendations that they are making within the report um so here we we talk about um um we talk about how the committee um was provided with enrollment information and other data as well as options for current and possible future uses of the properties that the committee received a presentation from dcg strategies about a feasibility analysis for each of the properties as well as the uh the plotted facilities map and the estimated facilities upgrade cost chart that we looked at and I believe uh the last meeting on May 17th um and then also that at each meeting we've been bringing back um some feedback from District staff in the Board of Education about the district's needs and goals from there we move into the committee's findings and then into the committee's recommendations which I think

011is where the majority of our discussion will be tonight in in you know trying to further uh further revise and um and specify you know exactly what the committee wants to communicate to the board in its recommendation um so I'll start I think by I can read out each of the committee's findings as I have them listed here and then feel free to jump in and um you know let me know if you'd like to discuss more about the particulars of those findings if you if there's a particular word I've used that you don't like and you would like to replace again you know this is the committee's report I'm just really here to facilitate the drafting um so the committee's findings uh the first we have specified is that the committee finds that the

012properties are not necessary to house existing District student enrollment or for ongoing core instructional needs of the district the second is that the committee finds that many of the properties will have the potential to generate one-time or ongoing Revenue to help pay for other District priorities the third is that the committee finds that due to the number and location of properties they provide the opportunity for facilitation of district and Community benefit uses and the fourth finding is that based upon the committee's review of this information and after studying the real property owned by the district at issue uh the committee came to the following recommendations um and this is where we have our our chart that lists out um each of the locations the addresses of the property and then a property designation and I

013know um when we talked about this chart at the last meeting um we weren't happy with the heading on the second set or the second row um and so I've changed it to uh to property designation because this is where ideally we would list whether the site is Surplus to District needs or not Surplus um and then for each of the of the six sites I have them listed as Surplus based on feedback from the last meeting where um I think there were several members that expressed that there really wasn't concern about them being Surplus they felt very you know very very comfortable that that was the label that we wanted to give to each of the sites um so I'll pause there based on those you know on those four recommendations or those four

014findings rather what does the committee think how do we feel about those I apologize for not being here last time um but can you just go over what this means as far as the Surplus what it the Surplus and not Surplus to the district so I can get a good gauge on that sure sure so um so the designation of a property as Surplus or not Surplus really is kind of the the core responsibility of the committee right that's what what's what we're here to decide is are these properties Surplus to the poor educational needs of the district um usually what I'll say about you know uh what does it mean to be Surplus it means that um the district doesn't currently need those sites to house enrolled students um right to um to you

015know build additional you know programs or classrooms because of overcrowding at sites for example um what it doesn't mean is that that the committee is saying to the board that we don't want to have any additional you know District uses of those sites the um to say that differently the uh the committee can find a property to be Surplus and then still have a recommendation that it be used for athletic programs or you know a community center or um to even you know like re-house existing District programs that want a little bit extra space or want to be in a different location um so really just means at its core that that site is not needed to to house you know current enrollment of District students and the designation of surplus gives the the district

016and the board the ability to start to make additional inquiries into what they want to do with that property right so um you know you have the ability to think about doing a lease of that site for various uses or you know sale of the property if that's where it goes but also you know think about um you know Community use or like shared use benefit um for the site pardon me I have a question sure proceed I have a question on procedure okay um I have some suggestions for use of surplus property okay would that be better served to make those suggestions at a school board meeting or in this committee I think that would definitely this would definitely be an appropriate forum for you know for those suggestions um and that's that's kind

017of kind of a part of what we can work into the recommendations for example where we get into more detail about uh potential use of the site as a community center or for extra parking and Athletics um so yes feel free to to share your ideas Sarah for me but to your point that would be in the next section so when we start looking at that section that's when we can have that conversation right now we're looking at the findings and then the the designations of the properties correct right right that's true that's true all right thank you so any concerns about the findings that I just read through or you know disagreement about the way that they are phrased or additional detail that you want to provide in the recommendation I do have one

018question in finding number four you say and after studying the real property owned by the district at issue can you tell me why you have the word real in there please yes yes um so from a legal perspective when we talk about real property it means the land itself um and that is just kind of a a way to help designate that we're not talking about um you know fixtures necessarily I mean the buildings that are attached you know to the land obviously that's you know a part of our consideration um but it's it's kind of a a technical like a legal way for me to designate we are talking about you know land that you know uh particular Parcels that have been a part of the conversation thank you just give everyone a minute

019to read through those and absorb there's no rush this one perfectly so on findings number one yes we said to house existing right District student enrollment yeah um I'm sorry I was not here on the first meeting uh did we discuss future enrollment as well like the immediate strategic plan that the existing uh school will be able to handle incoming uh or whatever increase in enrollment yeah yeah that's a great question so we did we looked at some enrollment numbers um and some rough projections about what we think enrollment will look like in future years um and it showed uh there's a chart I'm visual so I'm thinking of the chart that we saw in the presentation that kind of showed you know the anticipated enrollment over time and then it showed the space available

020in the facilities and there was a very large gap I think is the best way that I can explain even after considering um you know kind of our our expectations for the future and I'll just say you know those those those are just projections right like based on an expert demographer right that has that has that has looked and um has you know used their best guess at what we think student enrollment will look like um but but based on those numbers the result was that there there's going to be an increasing Gap in the the number of facilities that we have and the number of students that we need to house thank you I can also add even with our current facilities that we currently have projected to be open for next fiscal year

021none of our campuses will be at 100 capacity so I was I was going to add actually I think that's a good point about the language um to the extent that it you know that it specifies that the that the committee has only looked at existing enrollment I could I could add some additional words that you know make it clear that um that the committee has found that you know the properties are not necessary to house existing or projected I think that's a good station thank you and I think if I can add you you alluded it to uh to it Sarah uh but just to to be clear uh the projections are not just staff projections but they're demographer projections as well so maybe it would be wise to add something um in that

022sent in that finding about that it was an expert demographer who actually consulted with us that it wasn't just our findings that based on consultations that that's why we came to that conclusion yes certainly certainly happy to add another sentence that makes that clear okay great we have one more comment on that so sure if for some reason Medusa all of a sudden became the home of new generations of people and we needed more schools uh there's no land available we're just so I was going to uh suggest that we were consider reserving one of those emerges growing and I think that's that's something that that has been captured and what I've been hearing from a lot of the committee's discussion is you know uncertainty about um disposing of properties right so so this this

023first step where we call a property Surplus or not Surplus certainly does not speak to whether it will no longer be owned by the district right you know the school district can still maintain ownership of the of the property after it's called Surplus um you know we could you know you could do like a long term or short-term lease right to use it to make Revenue but still you know still very much be the the owner of that property and transition use um but but I certainly take your comment and I think you know hopefully that is that that is also kind of reflected in the recommendation that you know the committee is not saying sell every parcel I think it's captured in I know we're going to get to that section after this but

024it I think it's captured in bullet number two well there was a one more point there was a discussion about having a place for keeping a place for um an alternate High School you talked about that mm-hmm and um should that be part of this recommendation yes and I think when we get to the next section because the for this part right right here are the findings and then when we when we get to the next part of the report that's exactly where we'll talk about that okay because I have that and one more thing okay excellent I will come back to you don't worry I will get all of your comments on our next section um okay so so some great some great changes and edits to the first finding anyone else have additional

025thoughts about findings two three and four or if you're feeling really comfortable with them feel free to express that to me and we can we can move through them I I will have a honor on point two where it says where other districts priorities at the end reminder priorities being physical improvements and not necessarily educational or academic well yes so I think what you're speaking to is the restrictions on on the uses of Revenue that that comes from Surplus property so so the distinction that I'll make there and and the reason I wasn't super specific with my language is because um there there are particular restrictions if you do a lease with an option to purchase or a sale so those those two types of like dispositions of property are subject to to restrictions on

026on use of the revenue where it can only be used for in general facilities improvements it can't you know it goes into a separate facilities fund and not just into the general fund for those uses now a straight lease of the property with no you know potential for sale that that money does not have those same restrictions so there is there is some flexibility um and I'm I'm certainly happy to further you know Wordsmith that to be to be more specific um my general idea was you know I think part of the conversation we've been having um as the committee was this you know kind of excitement about the potential Revenue that can be generated by these sites through through various options and I didn't want to you know be be too specific because I

027know we've talked about lots of different potential uses lease sale you know joint joint use and I think all of those are still very much on the table it was really emphasizing that the you know the committee wants to you know convey to the board that you know generation of revenue from these assets would would be a great option in in whatever form people have interest you know to make use of them okay thank you and I say that kind of saying that for everybody and people listening to as a reminder that um the sale of a property isn't going to maybe bring in new programs or something like that because there are those restrictions and so that wording in there coming in at it blind just to understand that part that yeah no that's

028that's very helpful I appreciate you making that distinction I mean we could we could be more specific I'm trying to think of what more I could say there we could say um the committee finds that many of the properties will have the potential to generate one-time or ongoing ongoing Revenue to help pay for um for facilities improvements and other limited District priorities to kind of you know uh kind of hit home that most most of the revenue will have restrictions to be used for facility improvements some small portion could go to other priorities what do we think about that suggestion when we make a suggestion like that where um are we assuming that the board as the the deciding body ultimately will know all of those restrictions because I think if we're if the board

029already knows what the restrictions are I see no need in having to clarify it further because we're ultimately leaving it in their hands and they're the ones who are elected officials to know what the restrictions are um so I have no problem with keeping it generalized I think I think to answer your question it's fair to say that that the board will know or will have the opportunity like I'm I'm more than happy to advise I know staff will will also make it clear that you know when they're asking questions about the various options for disposition we'll say you know here are some of the limitations on that any any other thoughts about specificity versus wanting to keep it wanting to keep it General how do we how do we feel about that this report

030goes to other people I think you guys that it does well it does yeah who are those other people that this report goes to so um it goes to uh to several other state agencies in uh depending on the process that the board decides for a particular property so um the first one that I'm thinking of for example is if the district decides that it does want to um uh sell a property or lease it for a very long term um there there is a set of like priority offers that the district has to make to certain entities and um there's a process by which the district can avoid having to make offers to certain affordable housing agencies so the way that the law is currently drafted is it it kind of has this uh

031this restriction and it says if you're going to uh to open it up for those uses then you first have to offer to these people um if the board decided you know there's some other use that we'd like to make of that property that's different from affordable housing there's an exception where we can submit this to the California Department of Housing and Community Development and they will actually just because you have all convened here as a 7-Eleven they can give the district an exemption to that rule they will look at the uh the report of the committee to make a determination that you all met as a 7-Eleven um so that's that's the first place where this will go um the second is that if the district decides to sell any any of the parcels

032um there's a pretty strict process within the code about how that sale has to happen so they'll um you know like put out and an invite and all the potential people that have interest will have to come to a board meeting and they kind of have this like live auction um style sale that doesn't tend to be the most advantageous for the district because it doesn't let us negotiate with with various interested parties on anything more than just price right the law says that we have to pick the highest price um and so there's a there's a process I've talked about really briefly before the committee where we we can submit a waiver to the California Department of Ed the State Board um and they can allow the district to do a more flexible process

033of accepting rfps and negotiating with interested parties based on factors other than just price like uh for example like Community benefit right so if you say there's someone that's interested in buying the property for a use and they're not the highest price but maybe they have a really great use that the board really likes for the site um using the process of the waiver lets them consider those offers and this will be provided as the packet of as one of many one of many documents that would go to CDE as a part of that process so so short answer to your question is yes those are the those are the two examples of places where I can see this going to be reviewed by by other public agencies in in as a as a part

034of the Surplus property process I do have a question um sure so also the public can it's open to the public to view correct uh the report yes it is so it is as a kind of as a part of these meetings right like anyone can you know can come and provide comment um at our next meeting we'll have a public hearing that is that is all about this report right so that so our final version of the report will be uh will be made available with the agenda and um embedded within our public meeting will have a public hearing where we allow folks from the community to come and speak to the content of the report so yes it is certainly open to the to the the public to provide feedback and those are

035those are like usually the Forum in which they can they can come and speak to it because in that case I think being more specific would help because you know the board might know and and the other agencies that you're going to send it to but maybe the public you know clarify it for them sure sure yeah that's a thought how do how do others feel about the specificity versus being a little bit more non-specific I would like to identify what I believe we should I can't speak for everyone but for me I want to advocate for housing okay low income housing housing provided by non-profits profit non-profits should have the first track okay yeah yeah and however whatever it takes to get that done that's what I would like first okay I don't know

036if anybody else cares I sure and and just you know just so you know to that point um if the district decides to do a long-term lease or a sale of the property there you know there is a structure within the code that requires that we make offers to non-profit so there's there's there's one for uh for housing for housing entities actually not just non-profit it can be for uh for like for uh for-profit developers that do affordable housing but there are separate ones that we can't waive out of we can't get rid of we're stuck with them we have to to um to uh to non-profits and to other public agencies so those those will always be there there's those that will always be a part of our process well I misunderstood I but

037I heard you say that the way the rules a small subset a small subset of them yeah they're so they're they're kind of three three offers that we have to make and um the the small subset that goes to certain um affordable housing agencies is the one that can be waived we still have to make offers to uh to all non-profits though right so if they so I mean they could still in theory make an offer through their through their non-profit status or as a public agency and the decision to to you know to to um be exempt from any of those offers that would be that would be the the board's purview right that's not something that I'm I'm necessarily like asking the committee to to make a decision about but but we can

038certainly Express um you know for example what I'm hearing from you is a recommendation that you you would like to see some of the sites potentially used for that purpose and that we can definitely Express I'm greedy I want it all question yes what is on the non-profits we're not only talking about housing or what what could be other non-profits um so the way that it's designated from a legal perspective is is any any non-profit entity that is uh like organized within a um a certain section of the tax code so it's it's open it's it could be any any educational uses yeah yeah as long as they are um you know properly like organized in that way and they're cited to in the code section they you know they would have a priority to

039the the property and that's again if the board decides to sell or lease long term right but just if I'm not mistaken even though there's a non-profit uh let's say that builds hospitals yes they can be interested in the property but the the roadblock or what we we have heard is that all six of these properties right now when when having conversations with the three entities are zoned for housing that's right right so so a non-profit Hospital may want the property but the city and or entity is not going to Grant the Zoning for them to build a hospital because the zoning right now housing is King right right that's a good point so so um so what I was speaking to is this kind of strict process in the Education Code about what a

040district has to do to kind of offer up the property to these various like priority entities out outside of that um and very much to the point of the superintendent um whether or not those parties can use the property for their intended use is is going to depend on the zoning of the site and and whether the the city um and or the county depending on the location gives them the ability to rezone the site so in essence whatever's left to just from what I'm reading I'm going a little bit ahead of myself but um the the Board of Education had they're going to decide what properties to use for let's say community schools and all that and what's left um if it's housing first per se which zone for housing then like uh superintendent

041Ortega had said yeah we get it so if what would be the Zoning for a non-profit let's say for Education what would that zoning be so so there um maybe certain uses by a fit that fits into the existing zoning right so we have zoning by right which I which I think is how it was referred to by dcg um in that you know the the city and or the county isn't going to mess with how the site is currently zoned right so so if your use fits into the existing zoning then you're safe right whether it's the district doing it or another entity that's that's making that use of the site um and it's if it's an you know non-profit educational entity they probably would fit within the existing zoning designation um but if

042you have a you know even a non-profit hospital or organization that is going to be coming in to you know to to build a hospital building that that likely wouldn't fit within some of the zoning designations and then that's all going to depend on the discretion of those public agencies and what they want that property to be used for and what they're willing to approve and what we're hearing from dcg is that they've expressed kind of off the record that housing housing housing housing is the only option well as impassioned as I am about housing I am also very concerned about the how do I want to say this without getting overly worry when I came up through the school system the the use of the high school in particular was to train people for

043an occupation we took we took we had classes available for typewriting shorthand I took wood shop an electrical shop I learned the very basics of how to use a few tools so it would seem to me that we should be returning to Our Roots there's all these Highly Educated people that can't find jobs because of the emphasis on college education over the last 50 years and it's run its course there's a shortage of animal mechanic there's a shortage of Highly skilled cabinet makers so the thank you I think you'd be happy to know that we have an auto shop uh at the high school where students can actually uh complete a pathway we have um we have a a partner ship with Citrus that they can matriculate into those programs you know they have that

044the Toyota um and so we do have an auto shop a course built with its own garage and tools and so um not only just auto mechanics but also going into the future thinking about solar and electrical as well well right now if I want a specialized education in computer science it's readily available but everybody can't be a computer technician you know we just kind of got waited but going back and examining some of these areas maybe there's some real use for an educational facility to do each other trade so I'll go ahead and add that those are recommendations that we can we can work on in the part when we get to recommend foundations we were on a number two and the district priorities that wording specificity and generalization and because to me this

045is going to be put out the public and maybe I don't know if I'll just take a vote on that we keep it how it is so I need a little guidance from you Sarah um but I don't have exact wording on that number two because I'm now just going to go in order um that District priorities based on the limitations of law from the Board of Education something in there about making sure that the public knows that it can't go to a trade program even if we wanted it to some you know just so that that understanding is there yeah yeah so so we don't need to take a vote because it's not it um it's not designated as an action item per se but I'm certainly looking for kind of a consensus right

046if I'm if I'm hearing we want you know specificity from three or four of you then I think that that seems to be you know the uh the committee speaking as opposed to individuals um so so that was part of me saying what is what does everyone think about specificity versus you know keeping it more General because once I kind of start to hear a consensus then I'm feeling like the committee is speaking and I can you know I can start to add more more um more language or different language um so what I'm hearing is that there's there's a potential recommendation that we add some additional um language to the second finding that that speaks to the fact that um we we just we put some more some more like modifiers on priorities right

047we we make it clear that there there are some you know some limitations on the expenditure can I ask a follow-up question sure um will uh in in reference to this report and whatever is made public and whenever we have to send things to people will they also receive the copy of the dcg like report that we had which like labeled all of the zoning essentially if we're going to be more specific will it also be included what properties are currently zoned for so that when board and everyone else is making a decision about what to do will they also receive all of the additional items that we have which have helped us make those those um certain decisions so so certainly the board will have all of that information and like we talked about

048before they'll have even more information that we can't share with you right in this forum um but uh I can't say that every time that this report gets shared with another public agency that they're going to get all of the backup that you've seen but uh to your point the yes the the board has all of that information already and and we will continue to make sure they have all the contacts that they that they need to to see kind of how you came to this this you know set of recommendations so they will know the zoning of the sites I don't necessarily have a problem with changing it um so then another follow-up question when we have a public hearing I know by reading that if somebody hears that they're going to think and

049or um are dreaming as we've talked in at you know meetings um just if if the public comment usually comment only not a discussion like this so if somewhere they understand or the general Public's not always going to listen to these uh meetings understands that and obviously I assume more allowed to say that when we talk out in the community by the way yes I was on the committee and this is what or to um Facebook is you know has conversations and other community organizations have um comments you know that about that so I don't necessarily need it but James because I get it and the person the people who you know the board is gonna get it but just as long as in the public understand so I'm going to State it now that

050there are limitations on where that Revenue and yeah yeah I think that that's wise I wonder if we even add uh like a sub bullet or a sub number that says um you know based on uh District priorities or these some of the fine some of the sales the properties um can only be used in certain ways you know for more information see the district or something like that if there's another way because I think that that's really smart to keep in mind those who haven't been a part of this process and obviously we have much more resource and the school board has even more but the public doesn't if they're not watching these things so I think providing something for them would be helpful is to be aware of the limitations of what that

051spending looks like yeah so what I'm thinking pulling all that together is um I could add some additional language onto this sentence that just says um to help pay for other District priorities in accordance with um established uh like legal restrictions on use of Revenue and that makes it clear you know it's as in four priorities as they're allowed um or you can put note the reference of the education yeah just do a footnote I mean the sentence you said is good you then could have put note saying TDE uh blah blah blah say restricted funds are you know wherever we're coming from Legally okay so that's getting really specific which I'm certainly happy to do but that's but that's definitely it's definitely getting really specific how are we feeling about that we want to

052footnote with the Education Code site is it a lot it's not no no it's not long it's not long at all I mean certainly you know it could be footnoted it's just it is getting very specific right we're like pointing them to one one or two sections of the code that have those limitations I personally would stray away from that if we don't have control over what those codes cite at any given time if we're not the the governing body over what those could say if their state of um State education codes that could change at any moment and so I think it would be wise to just leave it generalized to the State Board of Education or however we would want it worded that's fine Sarah yes just adding a comma after priorities and

053say subject certain legal limitations then say for example they can add a general example yeah okay so when you're so when you're when you're thinking that that like for example Clause you're thinking like first I would say for example um restrictions on use of the revenue from sale of surplus property or is that is that not a specific were you thinking like more of a specific example I didn't have okay okay because um so when I think about the restrictions right I think about um restriction on sale and sale with with an option or at least with an option to purchase and then um and then straight lease doesn't have those same restrictions I think that's really really the Restriction that we're thinking of right is um is the sale the sale option so I

054guess I guess my question is still similar to the last do we want to get that specific by by giving them an example or do we do we like this just kind of additional like modifier that says in accordance with all the applicable uh like legal restrictions on Revenue I think if the general public cared as that much they would look up themselves what the legal restrictions on the public Revenue would be okay so I would vote to I my recommendation would be to keep it um more on the the generalized addendum that you had okay I'm seeing five nodding heads which is definitely a consensus so we're gonna go with that for now um okay so let's go to let's go to recommendation three or uh I'm sorry finding three um the committee finds

055that due to the number and location of properties they provide the opportunity for a facilitation of district and Community benefit uses any thoughts there my goal there was to kind of encapsulate this this discussion about there are six properties that the uh the committee has been asked to um to review and that because there are so many opportunities that there there is great um you know great potential for a district or Community benefit use on on at least you know some of those sites so we have the uh the the the prior bullet about potential use for revenue and then the next bullet that kind of speaks to but also you know Community uses would be great okay um so moving on to finding four this is where we list we list the six sites

056and we designate them all as Surplus any concerns thoughts discussion on that finding okay not seeing any we'll we'll move on to the recommendations which I know we are excited to get to um okay so I'm going to read through the recommendations one through six just to get our get our juices flowing and get us um thinking about these um so the first recommendation is the properties should be declared Surplus to the educational needs of the district that one's kind of a repeat of of the finding the second is uh the committee recommends that the board explore use of at least two of the properties for the following types of community benefit uses and I list out a community center Conference Center or Student Services Center kind of all in a single bullet extra parking

057Athletics and recreational space um additional room for Central um for expansion of a central kitchen and then finally reorganization of existing student programs so I kept some of those kind of broad right to to try and encapsulate all of the potential uh community and District benefit uses so you know for example the uh the reorganization of existing student programs that could speak to additional you know like Hands-On learning opportunities for example um it could speak to um you know some some programs that maybe are at an existing site and we want to move them and expand their their their space to one of the Surplus sites um I know we had we had discussion about the central kitchen space we talked about it kind of at length at the last meeting so I do have

058that that that um that idea listed here and then also extra parking Athletics and recreational space we talked about this a little um at the last meeting and there was also some feedback from the board about that being a potential interest in in wanting to use one of the sites at least one of the sites for those potential uses and then finally our kind of this ongoing idea of the community student student services and Conference Center um so my goal there is to kind of list out all of the all of the creative options that we have or at least give them you know some categories any anything you think we I haven't encapsulated there that you would you would like to add as far as ideas and I go backwards to point one sure

059we had added in the previous findings something to the effect of a declared Surplus to the current and anticipated future educational needs to the district should we replicate that exact wording in that point one as well I'm open to that yes sorry I didn't speak into my microphone yes I'm certainly open to that option also on that point one yes um the recommendation is very general educational needs that can also be uh you know the community center so may we use the exact for instructional needs meaning it's the classroom because other properties can be used for educational needs but not necessarily the classroom right so we were talking Surplus for the core instructional needs of the business okay okay great I can I can make those changes foreign about the listing of the particular potential

060Community benefit uses I know that's where we we focused a lot of our discussion the past couple meetings I just want to make sure um I know some of the feedback also from the board at our last meeting was you know we would like to see some creative options so that was my goal here was try to try to make sure that we've you know we've listed for them in the in the report some of those you know some of those options I don't have a comment I have a question sure on the committee findings number one that we just talked about right now yes what we're saying is that this committee has found that the six properties are not necessary to house student enrollment or future enrollment for ongoing instructional needs a core instructional

061need and so I'm interpreting core meaning school yeah so what we're saying is hey we don't need the six properties first for for schools the properties that we have that we're going to have that's enough to house our students for school yes I think I think the distinction is we we don't want to rule out reorganization of existing programs correct yes but but then if we put the property should be declared Surplus for the core educational needs of the district aren't we contradicting ourselves because number one should should be about educational needs not the poor because the core were taken care of it would seem that that's contradictory to me yeah I think I think the goal of having a bullet in findings and then in recommendation right the findings is saying we've looked at

062this data and we've identified that the the properties are not necessary to house existing you know core enrollment and then here um and I and I'm glad that you asked this question because I think it actually has a different intent is that we're saying because again this is this is so first let me back up the difference between the findings and the recommendations right the findings are we've looked at all of this data and and this is this is what we have found from all the things that we've looked at then we have a you know the separate section recommendations is where you know we're saying above and beyond those findings here's what we are recommending that the board do right so so here the goal is that we're saying um in our in our

063in our set of findings there was actually in finding four right we said all the properties are Surplus and so here we're saying we are recommending that the board find that these properties are Surplus right because it's because you make that recommendation the board then takes official action declaring the properties as Surplus um they would still be Surplus to so the reason I have it phrased this way is this is kind of like a parroting of the education code where it says the properties are Surplus to the educational needs of the district um actually now that you explained it that way it makes it makes more sense to me so I see what you're saying you're recommending to the board hey this finding that we have over here we're recommending that you declare that finding

064and so now it makes more sense to me okay thank you so I wonder if it would be helpful to say the property should be declared Surplus to the educational needs of the district based on our committee finding point one or or something to that effect that would draw back then you can leave the language as is and you just add based on our committee's finding of 0.1 or something similar or we could just say like based on uh um based on our committee findings because I I almost think um you know Finding four speaks to that too yeah um agreed okay and that's kind of a nice way to to tie them together in a way that makes it clear that the committee was thinking about both in conjunction and you know they they

065they they weren't intended to say different things I think it also highlights that there are two different things that what we're saying is there's findings and now based on those findings as you mentioned we're now making recommendations so I think it ties them together while also make sure that they're distinct okay okay how do how do others feel about that okay I'm seeing some nodding heads yeah when we talk about core um what do we mean by that I mean because we do have supplemental programs so shouldn't there be some worrying of supplemental perhaps in core or Norse or part of your core and then supplemental falls under that yeah so when I use the word core in the findings section I was trying to get at this um this you know kind of attention

066about we're saying the facilities aren't needed to handle existing enrollments right it's it's not like we we are in need of additional you know facilities to to house more students but not wanting to kind of rule out this recommendation about expanding or providing new or different spaces for existing programs um so when I say core I don't mean to exclude supplemental programs or you know non-traditional programs um I really I was getting towards the um kind of you know existing and projected enrollment let me look back at how that's worded could we use the word essential instead of core because anything that the board approves as far as programming and stuff is what they deem essential mm-hmm yeah I'm open to that change so the the first finding would say the committee finds that um

067finds that the properties are not necessary to house existing and projected future enrollment um sorry I'm reading through all of my notes existing and and projected future student enrollment for ongoing essential instructional needs of the district I just want to add because when my interpretation of core is math English reading like that's it when you say that that's what I hear so that's like got it okay encompassing but that's what I think I see okay all right so we're going to use the word essential because I get that core is kind of a loaded term in the education in the in the education context um okay so for for uh for recommendation one we'll say the property should be declared Surplus to the um essential instructional needs of the district um or maybe we can

068start the committee recommends because all the states start with that okay so what I'm thinking that would look like is the committee recommends that the board declared the property is Surplus to the um essential you know I would use the same language we just we just spoke to so essential instructional needs of the district um based on based on the committee's findings okay how do we feel about that re-re rejigging rewording of that finding or that recommendation rather okay all right I'm seeing some heads nodding um all right if there aren't any additional thoughts on on on section two yes please okay so in reading that everything looks great and the recommendations [Music] um the way I read it and it says um recommends that the board explore use of at least two of the

069properties in that language it's also saying without saying but there's potentially for that the board can um sell or lease I'm just wondering if we need that language in there just because now we're just only talking about two like when I read that now we're talking about a few properties for the recommendations what do we recommend you know yes well so so I will say I I intentionally said at least two with the goal of saying we we've said two would be great could be all six right um so so certainly no limitation there but there's no need we don't have to specify a number that was kind of you know me hearing what I was hearing in the discussion and to the extent we wanted to be specific about at least this many um

070I'm I'm I am not completely you know married either way to it to it having a specific number let's remember our mics of course I think the way it's worked with at least two like you said at least opens it up to could be all six could be three four but at least two at least I mean in looking at these needs we we've got to have a minimum of two at the very least so wording is not nice I don't think when you get into specifics it's going to be like okay we said three but we don't need three so then we could fall into a trap there just thinking I mean we could use a a more general term like sum or a few or various I would go with that I think

071using at least two does that restrict the board only two or no I'm sorry I'm sorry that kind of restrict it may restrict them to thinking I don't know I know there's at least two but what if they don't want to use any of any of the problems remember they have that right this is just our recommendation as a committee to the Board of Education they can receive our recommendation and decide to do nothing or they can decide that they completely disagree with everything you guys said and they want to go different direction I can't say that I've seen that right they they're usually happy to receive recommendation um but yeah yeah this is this is really just advisory but um you know to that point to the extent that you're concerned about you know

072out like even even just in the context of the recommendation like limiting them by by you know putting a specific number in front of them we could say uh the committee recommends that the board explore use of some some of the properties for the following types of community benefit uses and Sarah this may have come from I don't know this may have come from staff's recommendation when we have been uh when we have uh shared our recommendation to the Board of Education shared it here that staff not the boy I'm not speaking on behalf of the board of education but that staff would like to see the use of at least two properties one for possibly giving Sierra High School its proper school and then another one for this community slash Conference Center and maybe

073that's where you pulled that from yeah yeah because we we have we have been uh we have said that publicly that's true that's true didn't we say something about the high school at this time so we certainly can um so let me say this this would be the place yes this is this is the place to do it yes and um that that final bullet the reorganization of existing student programs was kind of my broad attempt to you know speak to that potentially while not sitting up coming out and just saying that in case there were other other potential programs that the that the board wanted to you know reorganize or provide additional space to and that's the way I interpreted that bullet as well okay so how do we feel about some as opposed

074to at least two and I'm not even married to the word some we could use we could use we could use a different one I think using some would be good it didn't it's not so specific okay do we feel like that's adequately representing what our a our ausd staff is asking us to do I'm just hesitant to feel like if we if we leave it at some we also have to take into consideration what ausd staff and faculty are asking us to do so I would be personally I'm hesitant to remove some or to remove to or to put in them I'd like to keep a number on it because I think we're we're asking them to explore at least this um yeah okay okay and we had uh our Committee Member here earlier

075and I don't know if we need to if the committee wants to consider adding like a number seven but I think that if and I'm not advocating for this but the way it reads I think it also satisfies um the desire to have in the recommendation just in case all of a sudden there's a boom in population I think this also addresses that versus getting rid of all six properties and then you know went to the demographers that's not going to happen but I think it addresses that piece also because now at least we're rotating two properties if if we need it for expansion [Music] I like the wording and maybe I'm stuck on the the absence of the word re retain or retaining because use of it indicate that it's being used and the

076board may see that they can still retain a third without using it and maybe that's just my personal language the way I think and and all of that but explore the retention and use of it you could put retention and or use of at least you then it gives you know that that idea of what you're saying because I like the idea of delineating that retention is considered we do want them to consider retaining maybe they might not use them immediately but at least if they're retaining them then they they're at least available to them okay okay how do we feel about that I think that kind of helps to encapsulate I mean various concerns not necessarily wanting to you know dispose of them all saying let's keep at least one site you know for

077potential growth you know later on um and then um also you know providing this this goal to have you know some community in District uses unexpected demand yes yes um okay so the the second recommendation would then read the committee recommends that the board Explorer explore retention and or use of at least two of the properties for the following types of community benefit uses I know we were we were going back and forth on at least two or some about whether we wanted to be specific or less less specific on on the number we could say a few that's kind of right in between I think a few most people interpret that as at least two I think I think that's that's always been my understanding that a few is two three okay okay well

078so maybe that causes more confusion than we than we're really hoping for um okay I like at least two at least two yes because it like you said the board ultimately yeah and so if we give them some sort of recommendation then we're giving them that at least yeah okay right at least right I think from two it doesn't show that we're sized okay two it was a number we we talked about it okay um all right so I'm going to move on to uh to recommendation three uh the committee desires to give the Board of Education the necessary uh flexibility and discretion in selecting specific sites most most appropriate for the potential uses specified in recommendation um one above and that actually should be recommendation two above after considering the following non-extensive list of

079factors um neighborhood preferences and Aesthetics surrounding amenities and access land value market conditions and interest um relative facility Improvement costs administrative and ongoing operations costs and location of existing programs and the my my goal with this section was to um we had talked about well do we really want to provide the board with specific recommendations about use this site for this use the site you know for the community center this might be a good you know site to sell things like that and um I think where the committee landed was because of all the information available to the board and you know some information that isn't necessarily available more widely to the committee or to the public about the properties that we wanted to give them the flexibility and discretion to kind of decide which

080sites make sense for different uses but I also wanted to encapsulate all of the factors that that the committee talked about that would go go into that decision right we we talked about um thinking about where other existing City and and District programs um are located um I know there was some feedback from some of the existing residents that you know that that live near some of those sites right and so I wanted to make sure we encapsulated the neighborhood preferences and Aesthetics right kind of what they want to see in their communities um uh surrounding amenities and access there was some discussion about maybe we should put the community center somewhere where you could walk across the street to a to a gas station or to a restaurant or kind of continue the community

081activity outside of the facility um and then of course you know the value of the land and then like market conditions about you know who would be interested in having a lease on on one side as opposed to another um and I wanted to make clear that it was a it was a non-extensive list so we were just listing out all the things that we or some or most of the things that we talked about but this shouldn't be restrictive on the board if there's other factors they want to consider by all means that should be a part of it as well uh my only this is a very thorough list and so I'm hesitant to add anything else to it sure however sure um one of the things that has really given us pause

082as we've considered as a committee is the zoning and so I do wonder if we explicitly say something to the effect of land value and current zoning or or something because that is something that we've really considered a lot would be to just add the word zoning specifically somewhere you're welcome okay yeah so here's what I'm thinking we can add um existing zoning and uh General plan designations because I know when we talk to dcg those are kind of the two right the two factors the how it's Zone and then what it looks like in the general plan so we can I can add that would you would you put city of Azusa General plan or just leave it as general plan because it we do have all of the other the three districts yeah

083just my thought was to leave it general just so because we could get specific but then we'd have to list them all and explain you know um so yeah I was gonna say um General plans then with an S since there is three appropriate dinner plan this thing zoning and general planning General plan designations General planning designations um yeah General plan objectives designations I think that captures it existing zoning and general plan designations I think acknowledges there are there are multiple General plans applicable to to various properties yeah that's what I was saying making it plural I think acknowledges that there are multiples so okay excellent okay I will add that to our list anything else on that third third recommendation okay moving on to recommendation four uh the committee recommends that the Board of

084Education lease sell or otherwise leverage some of the properties to generate Revenue that could be used towards Improvement of other properties for the district and and Community benefit uses and my thought there was just to kind of encapsulate part of our discussion at the at the previous meetings was how do we leverage value of some of these sites to put into the programs that we want to construct at some of the others so like for example would it make sense to sell or or lease or somehow you know generate revenue from one site to be able to have the upstart cost to build a community center again I don't want to create redundancies but would it be helpful to also delineate here that there are only certain ways that these that the funds can be

085used if we lease sell or otherwise Leverage to to to just hearken back to what we had just talked about would it be helpful to add something to the effect of um as provide or as outlined by the state of education however it is that's delineated how we can actually spend the funds yeah yeah so here's one thought that I have though about how it currently reads right we say sell or otherwise leverage some of the properties to generate Revenue that could be used could be used toward the Improvement of other properties maybe that's where I get more specific because my goal there was was really to say that revenue is going to be used for four facilities improvements right it's like pointing to that to that particular restriction on the revenue um but then

086also kind of saying Improvement of the properties or Improvement of the facilities for district and Community benefit uses um so let me let me think quickly about how we can adjust that or could we just add the same ending that you put on the other because I think that's what the ask is oh sure sure that's simple enough um yeah so in accordance with existing um legal restrictions on use of Revenue great yes we will I will do that anything else on four should we move to five okay um recommendation five to the extent the Board of Education decides to sell lease or otherwise convey any of the properties the committee desires to give the Board of Education the necessary flexibility and discretion um in choosing a method of disposition or Revenue production as appropriate

087after considering all the district's interests and needs of students staff the community surrounding surrounding neighborhood conditions Market interests lease rates and and land value among other factors so that's that's a bit of a mouthful but the goal the goal there is to say to the extent that the board decides to sell or lease or otherwise convey any of the properties um again we'd like to give them or the the committee would like to give them the the uh uh the discretion to decide what form that takes is it a sale is it a lease is it a is it a joint use you know what what type of like Revenue generation will that look like and then again kind of listing out all of the factors or at least the majority of the factors that

088the committee talked about that they would they would want the board to consider in in you know for example deciding between a sale or a lease of a property well again speaking for myself I like your wording because we are not in the position to make uh legal decision mm-hmm depends on you would both for those little Nitty Gritty decisions that's not our job yeah we don't we don't operate but above our Bay grade yeah yeah I know I think to your point that's that's um you know we we want to give the discretion to the board like our recommendation even though it is just advisory is to you know to to acknowledge that we haven't made particular decisions about particular sites I wonder since it is such a mouthful would it be helpful to

089make it two sentences where we say you know we give you the flexibility and discretion choosing a method um as appropriate period the committee recommends you consider the district interest the needs of students um so we've essentially just break up between what we're actually recommending for the first point or what we're giving them and then the the actual list of things that were we'd like them to consider yes I like that idea I like that idea I like that okay so we'll we'll split that up and create two separate sentences one that speaks to the flexibility in the method of of disposition and then one that talks about the factors that we would hope that the board would consider okay all right moving on to recommendation six uh the committee understands that the Board of

090Education may decide to file for a waiver of certain Surplus property procedures otherwise applicable to the potential sale of the properties that the Board of Education um and that the Board of Education ultimately decides to sell if any um let me go back that doesn't make sense um the committee understands that the Board of Education may decide to file for a waiver of certain Surplus property procedures otherwise applicable to the potential sale of the properties um I would say and that if the Board of Education ultimately decides to sell if if any just take out the if any if the Board of Education ultimately decides to sell and the committee approves and supports the fund or the committee approves and supports the filing of any such waiver okay okay so take out if any and

091yeah okay okay I was trying to hedge there because I know some people were very uncomfortable with the con with the concept of a sale and so I wanted to make sure it was clear that we were saying if they decide you know if they decide to sell any of the sites and they decide to get a waiver but I agree that that there doesn't make sense in the context of the sentence um or we can do the same recommendation we had from the previous one is to split in two so the first one is our understanding of the Board of Education may decide to file blah blah blah It ultimately decides to sell period the committee approves or the committee recommends approval and supports the file okay yeah that's an idea we could just

092make a two sentences so that next sentence would read the committee approves and supports uh the filing of any such waiver anticipating that I'm more flexible process for solicitation of offers uh creates value for the district and allows the Board of Education to consider factors other than only price so remove a in front of waiver and he said waiver yes gotcha yep is everyone comfortable with this waiver yeah so let me explain the waiver because I know I talked about some different options and I want to make sure it's it's you know kind of clear what this particular waiver is so this would only come into play If The District uh the board decided to to sell a property it's only in the context of a sale if the board decides they want to sell

093the property um again the existing statute provides a very strict process by which we essentially have to sell to the highest bidder and they they have to come to a board meeting and they raise their hand and they give the oh you give your offer and sometimes you know someone else will bid up the property um if the board wants to consider other factors outside of just price then there's a process by which we submit this uh this request for the waiver to CDE and it and it lets the district do a process of like you know uh soliciting informal offers or soliciting like requests for proposals for example where you know um in a party that's interested could you know like write out a proposal this is my anticipated program or use of the

094site it would include pricing but but what this really does is it the the waiver would give the board flexibility in in selling the property to someone based on factors other than just the highest price foreign number six it's uh it does have the word may right we're not saying it's just a recommendation yes right right would just be an option and and actually I'll explain um the reason this is here is that um one of the things that the State Board of Ed asks for very specifically is was the concept of a waiver discussed with the committee and uh was was the committee in support of the concept so they're very you know intent about wanting this concept to have been addressed by the committee if the board decides to to go that direction

095obviously with no certainty that the board is gonna you know decide to sell any of the sites right so we don't know if if that will be the way that they go but this is kind of just just trying to cover our bases in case that's what they decide I think if we're explicitly saying that they need to consider things like a community center Conference Center Student Services Center the likelihood that organizations within the city of Azusa or surrounding communities can outbid potentially a developer I think are slim to none and so we need to be able to say if we're recommending that you consider these types of sites we understand that that will come with a process which includes the waiver so we Grant you the ability to go ahead and move forward with

096that waiver because to us it's more important that you consider the needs of our community rather than the financial implications that this might bring so I think for me this is kind of a non-negotiable that we have to include that a waiver is is recommend that we we give them permission to seek that waiver and I would just say I think it's not in in any way like inconsistent with the rest of the recommendations right we're saying you know that we want to give them the flexibility to to think about various options we would like them to think about some Community benefit uses oh and by the way there's this weird like procedural thing that we want to make sure that you've considered so that you have the ability to do that so does everyone

097feel okay about the waiver any any questions about what it does or what it is or anything like that okay okay not hearing any um I'll make I will make these particular changes to the report and then um what we'll do at the next meeting is we'll schedule a public hearing so we'll still come back for the public meeting and then really the kind of um I was going to say the core but now I know that that's a loaded word the the main intent of that meeting will be for us to have the public hearing where the public can kind of come speak to the report um you will you will have an opportunity at the um during that meeting or at the end of the public hearing if you know something that said

098makes you want to change or adjust uh the wording of the report that will certainly be an option we want to make sure that you know you can still make changes after you hear from the community as well um but if if that doesn't happen then you know this this report with the changes that we talked about tonight will be the final form and then we'll come back at a future meeting for the um for the committee to take official action to approve the report um and then we'll have the chairperson sign so that's just that's just kind of a look forward into what we did what we will expect in our next couple meetings and just to um to announce that because the public hearing uh is happening at our next meeting uh we

099the district are taking um the step of sending a mailer to all residents in the boundaries of the Azusa Unified School District um to announce that we will be having a public hearing about our Surplus property um because obviously not every resident in our boundaries have kids or students that come to our schools and so we want to make sure that we are being as um forward and you know um just trying to be proactive and so we will be sending a mailer uh if the committee tonight approves the date um then we will go ahead and fill that in and get a mailer out to the to the residence okay so with that we'll move we'll move 6.1 I'll throw it back to our chairperson thank you can I get a motion uh for

100the approval of the next scheduled meeting on July 26th 2012. I have a question on that because we've gone so far with the third Wednesday of every uh the third Wednesday of every month this is the fourth Wednesday of the month so is there a reason for pushing that one more additional week yes um the reason we pushed it one additional week is we thought about if we did the 19th would there be the potential of some folks saying we did this right in the middle of summer um we were on vacation you know that kind of stuff and so we thought if we just pushed it one more week closer to the opening of school um so that was the intent um of pushing it one week further to try to erase that possibility

101not to say that that's what would happen but we thought it is right smack in the middle of summer and so maybe pushing it back more closer to the opening of school would make more sense I think it also just gives folks a little bit more time between this meeting and the next meeting to get ready or adjust schedule to be at the at the public hearing if they feel really importantly about you know wanting to be there oh yeah that was that was the other uh to make sure that we cover our bases to make sure that the Flyers get to or the mailers get to all of the residents as well can I get a motion for the approval of the next scheduled meeting on July 26 2023. and promote a motion for

102a meeting on July 26 2023 . they're just to confirm the second came from Edward Alva all in favor no any discussion an emotion carry item 7.1 can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6 35 I make it Lori Ray I make a motion to adjourn Karen rugley seconds all in favor I opposed any discussion the motion carries thank you