BEC Bulletin: Where to Build the New High School

Many Options Possible

The public and the Chico Unified School District have been mislead long enough regarding the Schmidbauer east property that became the preferred site for a new Chico high school at the eleventh hour (see Site Selection History). The CUSD reviewed the following five sites in southeast Chico:

  • Enloe, Humboldt and Bruce
  • Enloe, NW corner of 20th and Bruce
  • Schmidbauer, west of Bruce and south of 20th
  • Schmidbauer, west of Bruce behind Raleys
  • Schmidbauer, Bruce and the Skyway, northeast corner

From a safety and environmental perspective, BEC supports the following options once considered by the Site Selection Committee: Enloe, NW corner at 20th and Bruce and Schmidbauer behind Raleys. Other options not considered previously also exist in south Chico and north Chico where growth is also anticipated. More background is provided below for a historical frame of reference.

Background

The Committee evaluated at least 14 sites during 1997-98, narrowing the choices in May of 98 to a parcel at Humboldt and Bruce Rd. owned by Enloe Hospital and a plot of land owned by George Schmidbauer between Bruce Rd. and Raley's south of 20th St. During a committee meeting on May 13, 1998 a parcel east of Bruce Rd., also owned by Schmidbauer, was brought to the attention of the group as a possible site for the school. The Schmidbauer land east of Bruce Rd. was represented to the Committee as a parcel that appeared less constrained by environmental problems than first thought and representatives of Schmidbauer noted that $1 million worth of environmental work had been completed on this site in the months preceding May 1998. No mention was made for the reason behind the environmental work: the valuable wetland habitat.

This east of Bruce site had also been closely examined during the development of the City of Chico's latest General Plan. View of vernal pools on the primary site proposed for the new high school.

The General Plan called for a Habitat Resource Conservation Plan (HRCP) to conserve sensitive habitats (including wetlands) to provide increased certainty for landowners and conservationist and a streamlined approval process for development in designated areas. Land identified as suitable for development in the HRCP would only need local approval for projects to proceed, eliminating the need for individual permits from federal agencies. The area that is now the number one site for the high school was identified as a potential preserve in the HRCP. Ultimately, at the request of developer interests, the City Council unfortunately declined to approve the HRCP for the community and abandoned it as City policy.

As the Deception History and the Site Selection timelines illustrate, there has been a concerted effort to mislead the community into selecting an environmentally constrained property for a public school to help the landowner open the rest of his land up for speculative development. As the timelines also reveal, for all of the enthusiastic statements made by the Schmidbauer consultant to the contrary, the high school is no closer to building on the Schmidbauer east site than it was one year ago.

Site Selection History

April 17, 1997

A letter from the City of Chico to Jim Mann, Schmidbauer's consultant, clearly demonstrates that major portions of the Schmidbauer property are constrained by biological values. "The map proposed for conservation and development, ...of the proposed HRCP [Habitat and Resource Conservation Plan], recommends that a significant portion of the Bruce Road Associates properties [Schmidbauer's] be considered for preserve purposes. This recommendation is consistent with the Gneeral Plan designation of resource mangement overlay which [sic] contemplates preservation of sites necessary to avoid or mitigate impacts to resources."

February 24, 1998

A letter to Jim Mann from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service states, "Butte County meadowfoam populations have been so reduced by past projects that the species' recovery depends upon all or substantial portions of all remaining populations. We also discussed some of the genetic work that shows the importance of each of the remaining populations for the long-term viability of the species..." Why would a consultant try to proceed with a project in a heavily populated meadowfoam area with the additional information provided by the Service in this letter?

Early April 1998

An Enterprise Record article states that there are two possible sites for a new high school.

"The first, dubbed by committee members, `the Enloe property,' is 165 acres on the west side of Bruce Road, south of Humboldt Road. The second is 91 acres on the west side of Bruce Road, north of Raley Boulevard. It is owned by George Schmidbauer of Eureka."

April 14, 1998

School bond Measure A passed, allocating $48.75 million for a new high school and repairs on existing schools. Chico's mayor at the time, Rick Keene, maintained his past opposition to school bonds from the 1995 election and did not support this bond.

April 15, 1998

"...Barbot [CUSD Superintendent in 1998] estimated that it would be about three years before the high school can be occupied....`It's the responsibility of the school district to report back to the community regularly as to when these projects will be underway, what the timlines are as well as the estimated completion dates,' Barbot said." Chico Enterprise Record.

April 30, 1998

A memo to the Site Selection Committee from Paul Carras, Deputy Superintendent for the CUSD, states, "At this meeting we will review information concerning the two remaining sites, consider a parcel on the east side of Bruce Road directly across from the #1 site, and discuss the process of purchasing a site and the timeframes associated with it."

May 13, 1998

The CUSD Site Selection Committee minutes reflect discussion of the "two remaining" sites: Enloe and Schmidbauer #1 (west of Bruce) and then the introduction of a new parcel for consideration by Mike Weisenborn and Schmidbauer representatives. The new parcel, as stated in the memo above, is located east of Bruce Road directly across from Schmidbauer #1 site. When Committee Member Wayne Harder expressed concerns about "housing development conflicts effecting [sic] the immediate area and pending lawsuits," the Schmidbauer consultants related that, "there are no current conflicts and/or pending law suits with relation to this [new] parcel."

May 15, 1998

An article announces the other Schmidbauer property mentioned at the May 13, 1998 Site Selection meeting that just surfaced for review in the high school site selection process. The new site, also in southeast Chico, is on the northeast corner of Bruce and the Skyway. Chico Enterprise Record

May 22, 1998

In another ER article, a fourth site surfaces suddenly. "...the two pieces CUSD likes best are owned by the same person, George Schmidbauer of Eureka....One lies behind the Raley's Skypark Plaza shopping center; the other directly across Bruce Road on the foothill side.... Both have environmental constraints, including populations of Butte County meadowfoam and other threatened species. But the piece on the foothill side of Bruce Road is thought to present less of a challenge. For a number of reasons, that's also the piece Schmidbauer prefers to sell to CUSD, and that, Realtor Harder points out, could make difference when it comes [to] price and could `speed the process along'." [authors emphasis]

December 2, 1999

Chico ER
"Bruce Road Associates' failure to get that clearance [federal and state permits] has delayed the development of the high school for a full year already, with no end in sight."

May 25, 2000

CUSD Community Oversight Committee Meeting Minutes
"Jim Mann, Rural Associates [sic] is working with the US Fish and Wildlife, for the property owners and he foresees a resolution within the next few months....Anticipated opening of Canyon View High School would be the fall of 2004/05." Committee member Mark Francis questioned the possible opening date and said 2005/06 was more realistic and no one in attendance objected. In addition Francis asked, "Why are we waiting on environmental review" if resolution is due soon with the Service? CUSD's facilities planner Mike Weisenborn paused uncomfortably for a moment and then replied, "We've had smooth meetings, but we are diving into the details now."

Deception History

1) In the May 13, 1998 Site Selection Committee meeting, Mike Weisenborn and Schmidbauer's representatives presented a new parcel for consideration. The new parcel is located on the east side of Bruce Road directly across from the Schmidbauer #1 site. Committee minutes reflect that Committee Member Wayne Harder expressed apprehension about "housing development conflicts effecting [sic] the area and pending lawsuits," but the Schmidbauer consultants attempted to downplay his concern, replying that, "there are no current conflicts and/or pending law suits with relation to this [new] parcel." That is an interesting departure from the false and misleading statements by Schmidbauer's consultant, Jim Mann, to shift blame away from himself and Schmidbauer's constrained property for the high school building delays and onto possible lawsuits and environmentalist.

2) Jim Mann and Mike Weisenborn made the comments below at the May 25, 2000 meeting regarding the discussions with the Fish and Wildlife Service and the preferred high school site. Mann's comments indicate how angry he was that BEC's Executive Director was present at the public meeting, but it didn't stop the two of them from erroneously stating that they were close to an agreement with the federal agencies responsible for the wetland and endangered species permitting. It is now June 2001 and nothing substantively has changed from May 2000 when Mann and Weisenborn said they were so close to a resolution.

Mann comments.

I won't share the maps I brought [because BEC's ED was present]. We have had meaningful meetings with the Service. We expect resolution in the next few months. If Barbara [BEC's ED] wasn't here, I'd say different things, but it [the school] could be built tomorrow.

Weisenborn comments.

We're really close...on all the issues. Right now we are really close We expect to open [the new high school] in the fall 2004. [We have had] smooth meetings, but we are diving onto the details now.

3) At the September 28, 2000 CUSD Bond Committee meeting, Jim Mann continues the deception that Schmidbauer east should be clear of federal permitting hassles by reading excerpts from an outdated and never adopted 1995 biological opinion by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He neglected to read two informative letters addressed to him subsequent to 1995: the April 17, 1997 City of Chico and the February 1998 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service letters (see Site Selection History sidebar). Those letters enumerate the reasons to protect many acres of land in southeast Chico, including the Schmidbauer site east of Bruce Road.