Trustees unanimously approved a resolution to begin designing and approving the funding sources for the construction of the new Humphrey Ranch parking lot at Monte Vista High School.
The San Ramon Valley Unified School District Board of Education also gave the go-ahead to design and fund a traffic light and safety improvements on Stone Valley Road at the high school.
“It makes sense,” said Trustee Greg Marvel. “It’s good for the taxpayers. It’s good for the students. We do need the parking lot.”
“The board needed to essentially expedite this process,” said Terry Koehne, spokesman for the district.
At last month’s board meeting, the trustees took swift action to approve the project’s funding sources and design. They made the motion quickly to meet Davidon Homes summer deadline when it grades areas of the Humphrey Ranch property for homes.
If the district meets Davidon’s deadline, the developer will level the district’s 10 acres of the Humphrey Property for constructing the parking lot for free.
“It’s a no-brainer,” said Marvel. “It saves us close to $1 million.”
The district has two sources of funding for the project: $2 million from Measure A funds and developer fees. The Humphrey family made 10 acres of the property available to the district, and school officials used $4 million from Measure A funds to purchase the land.
Then the family gave $2 million back to the district to be used for improving schools.
“The bottom line is the 10 acres for a small amount of money donated from Mrs. Humphrey (is being used) in a way to help the community as whole,” said Marvel.
It will cost the district $950,000 to build a parking lot; $300,000 to add a traffic signal; and $1.1 million to create a buffer zone on Stone Valley Road. The zone includes landscaping between the parking lot and adjacent homes, irrigation at the frontage on Stone Valley, and additional curbs and gutters.
“The more kids you get walking on the sides of the streets is dangerous,” said Marvel.
The plans have been submitted to the Measure A Oversight Committee, which governs a $260 million School Facilities Bond authorizing the district to renovate, upgrade and expand local schools, as well as relieve overcrowding.
If the committee rejects parts of the funding, the district will then look to developers’ fees to finance the project.
On campus, student parking continues to get more challenging as enrollment at Monte Vista grows. In 2004-5, the total enrollment at Monte Vista was 2,322 with 491 students in the senior class.
In 2005-6, the school had an estimated 2,592 students and 614 seniors.
“Our enrollment is growing dramatically,” said Marvel. “We’ll be expanding for a couple of years.”
The rise in student population is partly due to the tremendous growth in
Dougherty Valley. The students who will attend the new Dougherty Valley High School, slated to open in 2007, are being diverted to Monte Vista High School.
When the Humphrey family decided to sell the property on Stone Valley Road, it first agreed to sell 9.6 acres to the school. This act was matriarch Marge Humphrey’s way of giving back to the community.
Walnut reek-based developer Davidon Homes eventually purchased the entire Humphrey Ranch property. In buying the property, Davidon also took on the obligation to the school district. While 9.6 acres will be used for the school’s projects, 24.43 acres will be used for houses; the remaining 61.83 acres will be dedicated open space.
