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Conservation efforts begin at Oleander school
site
SAN MARCOS -- As San Marcos school district officials
finalize an agreement to purchase a 22-acre lot in Vista for a
new elementary school, habitat conservation crews are busy
building a state-mandated 7-acre preserve which will provide a
unique educational experience for students.
On Tuesday
afternoon, crews from Habitat Restoration Sciences Inc.,
worked inside the fenced-off lot on the corner of Oleander and
Mimosa avenues. The work was the beginning of five- and
seven-year maintenance and monitoring contracts with the
district to conserve endangered species at the site.
At the monthly board meeting this week, trustees approved the contracts with the independent company to address concerns in a lawsuit filed by the property owner Michael Tan and a community group called "Parents for Safe Schools."
Last week, officials announced they had reached a
settlement agreement with the two parties, which will give the
district the right to buy the land for $6 million and lead to
dismissal of the lawsuit, which was filed in April to block
construction of the 52,335-square-foot school.
San
Marcos Unified trustees are expected to accept the settlement
agreement at a special study meeting Jan. 17 at the North
County Regional Education Center, 255 Pico Ave.
The
lawsuit asserted that the district failed to address
environmental issues at the site as required by the California
Environmental Act and did not address traffic congestion and
safety when it approved plans to build the school.
The
lot for the school was once inhabited by the Kumeyaay Indians,
specifically the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians, and is
full of fossils, according to an environmental report
developed by Dudek & Associates Inc., an engineering and
planning consulting firm in Encinitas. The site is also home
to thread-leaved brodiaea, an endangered low-growing flowering
plant.
The final environmental impact report approved
by the school board a year ago stated construction would cause
damage to the wetlands and endangered plants in the area such
as the brodiaea.
Kathy Tanner, district executive
director of facilities and planning, said the district was
able to reach the settlement because they have addressed all
of those environmental concerns.
Since the lawsuit was
filed, approximately 7 acres of the site have been fenced off
to contain and protect the existing wetlands which are home to
more than 2,500 plant varieties. There have also been 14,000
square feet of brodiaea transplanted to a fenced-off area,
according to officials.
Mark Girard, president of
Habitat Restoration Sciences, Inc., said the school will take
up 14 acres of the 22-acre lot and will be located on the
opposite side of the special preserve that contains the
wetlands and brodiaea.
Girard supervised workers on
Tuesday while they cut down eucalyptus trees for the wetlands
expansion.
Girard called the site "ideal" for a school
because it will discourage the illegal dumping which has been
prevalent in the area and the environmental aspects will offer
a "unique" educational experience.
"It's going to be a
real bonus for the kids and will also improve the
neighborhood," said Girard at the site Tuesday. "Both will be
surrounded by this really neat preserve."
Tanner said
in addition to the contracts for the wetlands and brodiaea the
district has approved a contract with Geotechnics Inc. to
draft plans for a pedestrian walkway at the corner of Oleander
and Mimosa avenues.
Other plans include putting in an
800-foot soil retaining wall required by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Department to minimize the impacts to the endangered
brodiaea during construction and allow more parking spaces for
the school.
Officials have also enlisted the help of a
biologist, archaeologist and paleontologist, as well as a
representative of the San Luis Rey Band of Mission Indians, to
supervise transplanting and grading in the area. The goal is
to ensure construction does not destroy any buried fossils or
remains.
The estimated cost for the efforts is expected
to total more than $150,000, which will be paid with the
district's redevelopment and community facilities funds,
according to officials.
Tanner said officials plan on
taking advantage of the environmental features at the site by
creating a new program focused on educating students about
fossils and endangered plant species.
Plans are to
build a viewing area for students to see the plants and
develop a curriculum for the school with the help of the
California Department of Fish and Game about preservation,
biology and history.
"This will be extremely beneficial
to our students," said Tanner.
Construction bids for
the school are expected to go out in April. Construction is
set to begin in June; the school is scheduled to open in
August 2008.
-- Contact staff writer Brenda Duran at
(760) 761-4408 or bduran@nctimes.com.
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