Ocean View board OKs gym study

Angelique Flores

A passionate group of about 400 residents, teachers and students

crowded the Marine View multipurpose room as Ocean View school board

trustees took initial steps toward the construction of controversial

gymnasiums at three middle school sites.

The 4-1 decision brought mixed support from the crowd, half of whom

wore yellow tags in support of the gyms, and others waving bright, red

“disagree” or “Think Recall!” signs.

Still, board President Carol Kanode said she thought the decision

addressed many concerns.

“We’ve made many compromises,” Kanode said.

Trustee Barbara Boskovich, however, opposed the vote Tuesday night.

The board’s action essentially OKs an environmental study by LSA

Associates Inc. for the Marine View, Mesa View and Vista View middle

school sites. A final environmental report will be available to the

public before board approval.

In a related twist, the board is waiting to hear from attorneys on

whether trustee Pam Ogdon has a conflict of interest in voting on Spring

View Middle School, which she lives near.

With both sides conceding on the details of the plan, compromises were

set on the terms and conditions of the project.

“We may not always agree, but I value the [community advisory

committee] comments and input,” Kanode said.

The board still needs to approve the designs by the architects, which

will be done upon the environmental study’s completion.

The initial study will analyze 17 points including traffic, noise,

lighting and aesthetics in order to send the findings to the architect.

The process will take about four to six weeks and the moratorium on

funding for the project will be lifted when the environmental report is

given.

While many residents realize the need for the facility, some of the

original details did not sit well with them. The biggest controversy has

been over the district’s original plan to rent the gyms to outside

groups.

Residents are adamantly opposed to having outside groups come into

their neighborhood tracts, a move that would affect traffic and parking

around their homes.

But, according to the resolution, the board will not rent the gyms.

The district may legally prohibit the rental of gyms to anyone outside

the mandatory civic-center uses, which are emergency shelters, Scouts,

Parent-Teacher Organizations, school and community advisory committees

and the registrar of voters, attorney Brian Smith said.

“I think the hugest compromise to our school board was the rental,”

said Supt. Jim Tarwater.

If the district would have allowed a joint-use agreement with the

city, it could have received $6 million from the state to help with

construction costs and another annual $300,000 from the joint-use

agreement money.

Size and design being another point of contention, the board agreed to

pare down to 18,616 square feet, with a possible additional

1,198-square-foot classroom that would accommodate two middle school size

basketball courts, or one-and-half high school court. The original

designs had the gyms large enough for two full-size courts at 19,600

square feet.

“The designs don’t follow the [community advisory committee]

recommendations,” said Stefan Rubendall, the Spring View community

advisory committee representative. This committee had asked for only one

middle school size basketball court.

However, the board also agreed to reduce the seating to accommodate

990, and eliminate the outdoor amphitheater.

The locations of the gyms were also moved away from the residences, as

requested by the community advisory committees, except for the Marine

View gym. Because of the layout of that school, the gym could not be

placed in the center of campus. It was instead moved away from Frans

Lane, closer to Forbes Lane.

“We’re OK with a gym, but we’re not OK with the location,” said Marine

View resident Todd Emmons.

Another thing some aren’t OK with is the funding plan for the

$12-million project.

The plan is largely dependent on money from the short-term leases of

closed school sites.

“I have a problem with applying short-term lease money to long-term

debt,” Boskovich said.

Kanode agreed that the funding plan needed further study.

“I’d like to see a more secure funding plan,” Kanode said.

While Kanode and Boskovich would like to look further into some

aspects such as funding, trustees Tracy Pellman and Pam Walker felt

comfortable in moving forward with the plan as presented.