WHAT TO WATCH FOR IN 2008:

SCHOOL SITES: The hotly contested fate of closed public school sites in the Huntington Beach City School District is expected to come to a head early this year, according to school board trustees.

The debate had been put on hold, at least officially, until consultants came back with updated appraisals of the four school sites. Trustees said they wanted to know what their assets were worth before deciding whether to sell any of them.

Those appraisals are ready to be presented at the Jan. 15 meeting, trustees said, and many said they would be the last piece of information they needed to come to a decision on the seven proposals before them.

But a move forward doesn’t mean opponents of selling sites will necessarily agree with the decision made. Supporters of youth sports programs on the four schools’ fields and those who want a renewal of the leases of the two private Christian schools now on district land said they are as committed as ever to fighting the sale of property to developers.

CITY COUNCIL ELECTIONS

Though much public attention is focused on the year’s coming presidential elections, the same November general election ballot will give local voters a chance at shaking up the leadership closer to home.

With Mayor Debbie Cook leaving office and Councilmen Don Hansen and Keith Bohr up for re-election, the public will vote on three council seats.

Though campaigning hasn’t begun in earnest, at least two members of the City Planning Commission have announced their candidacy.

Commissioner Joe Shaw, a former downtown business owner who unsuccessfully ran for the council in 2006, said he will “most likely” run again this year. Commissioner Devin Dwyer, a first-time candidate, also announced his bid during a commission meeting last year.

SHEA DEVELOPMENT

With three clashes at the California Coastal Commission marking last year’s installment in the debate over a parcel of land next to the Bolsa Chica Ecological reserve, the controversy promises to stretch on through the next year — and likely more years to come.

The Bolsa Chica Land Trust’s members are still incensed over the commission’s decision in November to ignore their staff recommendation and strike one possible wetland from the map where developer Shea Properties wants to put a housing development. The group has retained a law firm and is deciding whether to sue the commission by the Jan. 11 deadline, Executive Director Flossie Horgan said. But since a final staff report from the commission on its decision hasn’t come out yet, she said such a filing would have to partially be based on guesswork.

Shea spokesman Laer Pearce has said his company scored a victory, but even a best-case scenario would take a couple of years till groundbreaking. Environmental groups plan to make that battle last far longer.

DANNY OATES INVESTIGATION

Huntington Beach police have been investigating the death of Sowers Middle School student Danny Oates since August, when he was struck by a pickup truck as he rode his bicycle in the bike lane on Indianapolis Avenue.

This month is when police said they will be done with the investigation of what happened when the Ford F-150 driven by Jeffrey F. Woods, 20, of Huntington Beach, reportedly swerved across the road and killed Oates before smashing through a cinder block wall. While original projections for the end of the investigation were months earlier, police spokesman Lt. Dave Bunetta said new witnesses came forward. Ultimately, it isn’t police who decide whether any charges will be filed. Their report will then go to the Orange County prosecutors.

ASHLEY MACDONALD

The parents of teenager Ashley Macdonald, shot and killed by Huntington Beach police in 2006, filed a federal wrongful-death suit in July against the city, the county and the officers who shot her. Parents Lisa Marie Guy and Kenneth MacDonald seek more than $40 million in damages, according to the suit.

Expect the city to cite Orange County Sheriff and District Attorney investigations that cleared them of wrongdoing in the incident. The lawsuit, however, alleges Officers Shawn Randell and Read Parker should not have approached someone it called obviously mentally disturbed until backup with non-lethal weapons arrived. It also alleges police held Guy against her will away from the scene of the crime.

The suit is being considered in federal court in Santa Ana, as the case alleges a conspiracy to violate the civil rights of the MacDonalds and Guy.