ATWATER -- Two school districts rejected $4.5 million from a developer on
Monday, saying it's not enough money to cover the new students a proposed
2,000-home subdivision would bring to the city.
Boards of trustees representing the Atwater Elementary School District
and Merced Union High School District voted instead to press developer
Florsheim Homes of Stockton for about $33 million to build facilities
for the more than 1,000 students the project could draw.
By state law, Florsheim is required to give the districts about $3 per square
foot of every home it builds. That would funnel more than $11 million to the
schools, and about $16 million if the districts had accepted the developer's
offer that includes the $4.5 million bonus.
Several trustees said they wanted Florsheim to pay a sum that would compensate
the districts for the subdivision's impact on local schools. Taking less money
would overcrowd facilities and jeopardize the quality of education the districts
could provide, trustees said.
"I don't think it makes a difference if they give us $11 million or $16 million
if we can't build a school," Atwater Elementary Trustee Mike Copeland said.
Florsheim attorney Steven Herum said the districts risked losing the
extra cash the developer offered by pursuing a greater sum. He said the city
cannot deny the project because the districts want more cash than the developer
is required to give.
"This developer could pay approximately $11 million in school fees, and under
state law, that would fully satisfy his obligation," Herum said before a joint
meeting of the two boards.
Florsheim has acquired land, and a nod of approval from the city's Planning
Commission, to build the subdivision on a 400-acre lot south of Atwater-Jordan
Road.
The City Council was set to approve an annexation for the project last
week, but concerns from school district representatives convinced the council
members to delay their vote.
Florsheim's representatives and the districts have met in the past week to try
to reach a new agreement. The two parties left in a stalemate, with Florsheim
sticking to the $4.5 million offer, and the districts pressing for at least
$31 million.
Florsheim reserved a 16-acre parcel in the lot for an elementary school, but
the cost of that land for the district is still open to negotiation.
The developer and the districts are scheduled to meet again next week to try
for a settlement before the Feb. 14 City Council meeting, when the council
members are slated to vote on the annexation again.
Previous developments in the city have not been subject to added educational
fees. Council members last week questioned why Florsheim would be singled out
now.
The superintendents from both districts said after the meeting they were trying
to get a handle on the countywide growth impacting their schools. They said
they want to work with all developers to get extra facility money, and said
the Florsheim project was an important first step because it's so large.
Robert Fore, Merced Union High School District superintendent, said his
office is trying to set up more meetings with city councils in the county to
work out development issues.
"As resources tighten, we're all going to have to work together closer," he said.
Lou Obermeyer, Atwater Elementary School District superintendent, said
her schools could not absorb the roughly 800 elementary and middle school
students the Florsheim project could bring. She said a new school would become
necessary, but the Florsheim offer would not fund one.
Marshall Krupp, a negotiation consultant for both districts, said they can
delay the project by raising questions about the environmental review Florsheim
and the city completed before presenting the project to the Planning Commission.
Krupp alleged the project should be subjected to greater environmental analysis
because it did not fit in with a previous city general plan.
Herum said those arguments were incorrect, and he suggested the districts had
little to gain by suing to block the project because Florsheim would not have
to pay more than the state-mandated amount either way.
Atwater City Councilman Ed Abercrombie said he and his colleagues cannot
deny the Florsheim project on the grounds of the school issues. He suggested the
districts might be better off pressing state legislators to change
education-funding laws.
"If we abide by the law, which is all we are obliged to do, they're (the districts
are) just barking up the wrong tree," he said.
