ANAHEIM : Public Hearing on Brookhollow Plans

The City Council will hold a public hearing today on the controversial Brookhollow Apartments development project.

The long-discussed development proposal has been hailed by community leaders because it would give local nonprofit groups 20% ownership. But it has been a source of frustration for elementary school district officials, who say the project will add children to an already overcrowded school system.

The 124-unit project proposed by the William Lyon Co. would be built on Valley Street near Crescent Avenue and Brookhollow Street. It has received approval from the Planning Commission, but the Anaheim City School District has voiced its objections.

The size of the complex has been scaled down by more than half since the project was first proposed in 1989.

Still, school officials say, virtually any new housing project in the city would create a problem for the district because its 21 schools are already filled to capacity, with some on year-round schedules.

The developer and school officials disagree about how many pupils the Brookhollow project would bring to the district. School officials say as many as 50 elementary-school-age children could live in the complex, but the developers predict that the number of such children would only be about 10.

School officials say they want Lyon and other developers who plan to build housing in Anaheim to help the district. In the Brookhollow case, they want Lyon to donate land for a new school site or, at the least, pay for extra classrooms to be installed at current campuses.