Laguna Beach officials plan to spend $23 million to purchase a 6.5-acre former Catholic school campus, which they say will create an opportunity to add more community amenities in town.
Ideas including a cultural arts center, a public pool, a police sub-station and a parking structure are among those being floated as possible uses for the site.
While the vision isn’t finalized – city officials said the community will be able to give input – the City Council on Tuesday, Aug. 16, approved making an offer to the Diocese of Orange to purchase the St. Catherine’s of Sienna Parish School property. The diocese first queried the city about its interest in purchasing the campus more than a year ago.
Council members also supported borrowing $11.5 million for the purchase, pulling the rest from city coffers, including $2 million received through the American Rescue Plan Act. An additional $500,000 will be needed for property improvements such as plumbing, roof repairs, drainage and a review of the building’s fire systems.
The shuttered school, which is not far from the Montage Laguna Beach resort, has four buildings with a combined 39,500 square feet of indoor space. There are also athletic courts, a soccer field and playgrounds. The private school was built in 1957 and remodeled in 2008 – it has been vacant since 2019.
“This is super exciting for the community and the city,” Councilman Bob Whalen said.
He agreed with opting for the private financing plan because he said he didn’t think the other option, using money from the city’s parking and vehicle funds, was prudent, especially because of the plans to transition some of the city’s fleet to electric vehicles.
“I don’t like borrowing this much internally,” he said. “The parking fund should be used for parking. We’re going to have lots of parking demands. Private funding will be more expensive, but the loss of flexibility leads me to incur a slightly additional cost.”
Mayor Sue Kempf was quick to agree. “I don’t think we should put ourselves into a position like that, when we really don’t know what will happen in the future.”
The terms of the financing plan will be worked on by staff and returned to the City Council in October for final review. For now, the city will contact the diocese to move forward with the sale, which is expected to take three to four months to close.
Once the sale is finalized, the city expects to do some maintenance and repair work before any short-term uses could be implemented, including maybe a police sub-station that would add emergency services closer to South Laguna. There is also a gymnasium and some performance spaces that could be used in the short term, Whalen said.
Long-range plans could take several years to develop and include a partnership with the Laguna Beach Unified School District, which has expressed some interest in relocating its kindergarten classes to the campus. But before that could happen, state officials would have to review whether the property meets state building codes for school facilities.
Councilman George Weiss urged partnering with the district on future plans.
“I think this is a great purchase,” he said. “There is a lot of money to be invested, including if we build a pool. We haven’t figured out the uses. If we can partner with the school district would be great.”
Dee Perry, a school board member who spoke at the meeting as a resident, agreed that a partnership with the district could be good. She said the district is presently drawing up plans for a two-story remodel of its offices adjacent to Laguna Beach High School.
“Perhaps instead of spending a significant amount of taxpayer money on this remodel, some offices could be relocated to St. Catherine’s, and the money (could be) spent partnering with the city instead of a new structure,” she said. “This would cause much less disruption to the neighborhood.”
And Brad Berbarian said he and other neighbors who live near the St. Catherine’s site would be in “fierce opposition” to possible amenities such as a skatepark, public pool or parking structure.
“We would have an issue given the noise and traffic they would create,” he said, adding he would like the city to work with the neighbors when it comes time to decide on the property’s development.
The school site is among a few land purchases city officials have made in Laguna Beach in the past year with plans for public use.
In June 2021, the city entered into an agreement to purchase two parcels in South Laguna that were home to the shuttered Ti Amo restaurant. That $2.7 million purchase was made as a possible new location for Fire Station 4 in South Laguna. There has been some resident opposition, and the plan – as of now – has not moved forward.
In July, the council — in closed session — voted to move forward with purchasing another property at 31796 Coast Highway deemed a more suitable location for a fire station. If that parcel — presently home to a dental office building — is purchased, the council will decide if it makes sense to own the Ti Amo property.
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