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Resolution No. 6432528 RESOLUTION NO. 6432 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF CYPRESS, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING THE CITY'S SURPLUS SCHOOL PROPERTY PURCHASING PLAN WHEREAS, the Cypress School District ( "District ") owns 9.701 acres of land located at 8721 Cypress Street in the City of Cypress, County of Orange, which property is generally known as the former Mackay Elementary School Site (the "Mackay Site "); and WHEREAS, on March 3, 2013, the District's Board of Trustees declared the Mackay Site as "surplus" and authorized its public sale; and WHEREAS, the Naylor Act (codified at Education Code §§ 17485 - 17500) governs the disposition of surplus school sites with specialized "open space" characteristics such as "playgrounds, playing fields, or other outdoor recreational real property ", including the Mackay Site; and WHEREAS, the City and District have agreed that the City will purchase, pursuant to a conditional Purchase and Sale Agreement, thirty (30) percent, or 2.9 acres, of the Mackay Site pursuant to the Naylor Act; and WHEREAS, California Education Code § 17493(a) of the Naylor Act provides, in relevant part, that: "No public agency may purchase surplus school property from a school district pursuant to this article unless it has first adopted a plan for the purchase of surplus school property. The plan shall designate the surplus site or sites all or a portion of which the public agency desires to purchase at the price established pursuant to this article and shall designate at least 70 percent of the total surplus school acreage as property which the agency does not desire to purchase at the price established pursuant to this article. Where the plan indicates that the agency desires to purchase only a portion of a school site at the price established pursuant to this article, it shall designate the percent of the property to be so purchased and provide a description of the general location of the property to be purchased, without designating the metes and bounds." WHEREAS, in accordance with California Education Code § 17493(a), and in order to permit the City's acquisition of a portion of the Mackay Site, City staff have prepared, and the City Council has reviewed, a plan for the purchase of all "surplus school acreage" within the jurisdictional boundaries of the City, including the Mackay Site; and WHEREAS, pursuant to the Naylor Act, the City Council deems it necessary to plan for the possible purchase of surplus school open space and recreational property in order to preserve necessary resources; NOW THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Cypress hereby FINDS, DETERMINES and RESOLVES as follows: 1. The foregoing recitals and true and correct and incorporated herein. 2. This Resolution is being adopted in order to permit City to acquire thirty (30) percent, or 2.9 acres, of the Mackay Site pursuant to the exercise of its rights under the Naylor Act for the purpose of preserving this portion of the Mackay Site for community use as a park and /or recreational facility. 3. The City has prepared a Surplus School Property Purchasing Plan for Cypress School District (the "Surplus Plan ") properties that complies with the requirements of California Education Code § 17493(a), specifically, and the Naylor Act, generally. 529 4. The City's Surplus Plan, attached hereto and incorporated herein as Exhibit A to this Resolution, is hereby adopted by the City's City Council. PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Coun of the City of Cypress at a regular meeting held on the 27th day of May, 2014. ATTEST: tobt,_tx., CITY CLERK OF THE CITY OF CYPRESS STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) COUNTY OF ORANGE ) SS MAY • F THE CITY OF CYPRESS I, DENISE BASHAM, City Clerk of the City of Cypress, DO HEREBY CERTIFY that the foregoing Resolution was duly adopted at a regular meeting of the said City Council held on the 27th day of May, 2014, by the following roll call vote: AYES: 5 COUNCIL MEMBERS: Bailey, Narain, Yarc, Johnson and Mills NOES: 0 COUNCIL MEMBERS: None ABSENT: 0 COUNCIL MEMBERS: None raElte_66 CITY CLERK OF THE CITY OF CYPRESS CITY OF CYPRESS SURPLUS SCHOOL PROPERTY PURCHASING PLAN For CYPRESS SCHOOL DISTRICT PROPERTIES May 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE LEGISLATIVE HISTORY & NAYLOR ACT 3 CURRENT USES OF CLOSED SCHOOL SITES 6 CITY'S CURRENT OPEN SPACE AND RECREATIONAL NEEDS 8 Open Space Considerations — Park Perspective Open Space Consideration — Youth Sports Perspective ACQUISITION PLAN PURSUANT TO EDUCATION CODE § 17492 9 APPENDICES 12 1 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1 Open Space & Sports Usage at Surplus Sites 7 Table 2 Recommended Open Space Acquisition at Surplus Sites 10 APPENDIX Figure 1 Mackay School Site Aerial Photo 12 Figure 2 Cypress School District Map 13 Figure 3 City Parks Located within CSD Boundaries 14 2 52 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY & NAYLOR ACT 533 The Naylor Act (Education Code §§ 17485 - 17500) The disposition of surplus property owned by any public entity in California is governed by the surplus property statutes codified in California Government Code §§ 54220, et seq. The California Education Code provides supplemental regulations that govern the disposition of surplus school sites. (See, Ed. Code §§ 17230, et seq.; 17385, et seq.) In addition, the Naylor Act (codified at California Education Code §§ 17485- 17500) governs the disposition of surplus school sites with specialized "open space" characteristics such as "playgrounds, playing fields, or other outdoor recreational real property." This Act was created because "the Legislature [was] concerned that school playgrounds, playing fields, and recreational real property [would] be lost for those uses by the surrounding communities, even if those communities in their planning process have assumed that the properties would be permanently available for recreational purposes." (See, Ed. Code § 17485.) Pursuant to California Education Code § 17486, the Naylor Act governs the sale or lease of a school site by a school district if the following three conditions are met: (1) "[e]ither the whole or a portion of the school site consists of land which is used for school playground, playing field, or other outdoor recreational purposes and open -space land particularly suited for recreational purposes" (Cal. Ed. Code § 17486(a)) "; (2) "[t]he land .... has been used for one or more of the purposes specified [in Education Code § 17486(a)) for at least eight years immediately preceding the date of the governing board's determination to sell or lease the school site; (Cal. Ed. Code § 17486(b)); and (3) "no other available publicly owned land in the vicinity of the school site is adequate to meet the existing and foreseeable needs of the community for playground, playing field, or other outdoor recreational and open -space purposes, as determined by the governing body of the public agency which proposes to purchase or lease land from the school district, pursuant to Section 17492." To meet the third condition, set forth at California Education Code § 17486(c), the governing board of the public agency acquiring surplus property must make the following finding, which finding must be adopted by a two- thirds (2/3) vote of its members: "The governing body of a public agency which proposes to purchase or lease land from a school district pursuant to this article shall first make a finding, approved by a vote of two - thirds of its members, that public lands in the vicinity of the school site are inadequate to meet the existing and foreseeable needs of the community for playground, playing field, or other 3 534 outdoor recreational and open -space purposes." (Education Code § 17492.) Once a school district determines to sell or lease a "surplus" school site, the disposition of that site must be in accordance with the procedures set forth in the Naylor Act.' Importantly, pursuant to California Education Code § 17489, prior to disposing of a "surplus" site subject to the Naylor Act, the school district must first offer the property to other agency buyers. This statute provides, in relevant part, that: . . [T)he governing board, prior to selling or leasing any school site containing and described in Section 17486, excluding that portion of a school site retained by the governing board pursuant to Section 17490, shall first offer to sell or lease that portion of the School site consisting of land described in Section 17486, excluding that portion retained by the governing board pursuant to Section 17490, to the following public agencies in accordance with the following priorities: .. . (a) First, to any city within which the and may be situated ...." (Cal. Ed. Code § 17489.) Accordingly, in the City of Cypress, the Cypress School District ( "District ") must offer "surplus school acreage" for sale or lease by the City of Cypress ( "City ") before it may be sold or leased to a private party. If the City declines to purchase the property, it must then be offered to: first, the park district; second, "any regional park authority "; and finally, the county. (Education Code § 17489 (b) -(d).) In accordance with these provisions of the Education and Government Codes, the City of Cypress was given the "first option" to purchase all or a portion of the 9.701 acre property located at 8721 Cypress Street in the City of Cypress and generally known as the former Mackay Elementary School Site (the "Mackay Site "). This option was communicated in a series of offer letters transmitted by the District on March 22, 2013. On May 1, 2013, at the direction of the Council, the City Attorney transmitted a letter to District giving notice of the City's intent to acquire thirty (30) percent of the Mackay Site at the reduced purchase price authorized by the Naylor Act (Cal. Ed. Code § 17491), for the purpose of continuing the agency uses specified in the Naylor Act, i.e. playground, playing field, or other outdoor recreational and /or open space purposes, on that portion of the property. To date, this is the only "surplus school acreage" (as that term is defined by California Education Code § 17493) that has been deemed "surplus" by the District. /// A school district may exempt up to two surplus sites under certain specific circumstances. (Education Code 17497) Also, the Act permits the governing board of the school district to choose to retain any part of the school site containing structures or buildings, together with such land adjacent thereto as the governing board determines must be included in order to avoid reducing the value of that part of the school site containing the structures or buildings to less than 50% of the fair market value. (Education Code 17490) 4 535 The Surplus School Property Purchase Plan (Education Code § 17493) Before it may purchase the Mackay Site (or any other surplus property) pursuant to the Naylor Act, the City is required to adopt a "master plan" regarding the acquisition of all "surplus school acreage" in its jurisdiction pursuant to the special purchase provisions of the Naylor Act. Specifically, California Education Code § 174939(a) provides that a public agency may not purchase surplus school property subject to the Naylor Act from a district "unless it has first adopted a plan for the purchase of surplus school property." (Cal. Ed. Code § 17493(a).) California Education Code § 17943 further requires that the City's "plan for the purchase of surplus school property" designate: (i) "the surplus sites, all or a portion of which the public agency desires to purchase at the price established pursuant to this article "; and (ii) "at least 70 percent of the total surplus school acreage as property which the agency does not desire to purchase at the price established pursuant to this article." (Id.) As noted above, to date, the Mackey Site is the only site in the City of Cypress that has both been formally designated as "surplus" and has the characteristics of a property subject to the Naylor Act. However, California Education Code § 17499 defines "surplus school acreage" (as that term is used with respect to the creation of a surplus school purchasing plan) as "property which is owned by a district and not used for school purposes, including, but not limited to, undeveloped property and property which contains school buildings that are not in use as a result of a school closure " (Cal. Ed. Code § 17499(c).) As phrased, this definition includes the following four (4) unused school sites located in the City of Cypress and analyzed in this Surplus School Property Purchasing Plan (the "Surplus Plan "): (1) the Mackay Site (defined above), (2) the former Robert Cawthon School, located at 4545 Myra Avenue (the "Cawthon Site "), (3) the former Charles Damron Elementary School, located at 5400 Myra Avenue (the "Damron Site "), and (4) the former Swain Elementary School, located at 5851 Newman Street (the "Swain Site ") (collectively, the "Surplus Sites "). This definition does not include the Cypress School District Administration Offices & Yard (the "District Office Site "), which is therefore not discussed in this Surplus Plan. City staff have reviewed and considered the existing open space and recreational opportunities on each of the Surplus Sites in the context of the open space and recreational needs of the City. Based upon this consideration, and in accordance with 5 536 the law stated above, City staff has prepared this Surplus Plan which designates, in accordance with California Education Code § 17493: (1) all the unused "surplus school acreage" (as defined above) in the City; (2) the 30 percent portion of that acreage that the City would like to acquire pursuant to the Naylor Act, if given the opportunity, based upon staff's current assessment of the open -space and recreation needs of the Cypress community; and (iii) the 70 percent portion of that acreage that is either not subject to the Naylor Act or that meets the requirements, but that the City does not want to acquire pursuant to the special provisions of the same. The purpose of this Surplus Plan is to fulfill the requirements of Education Code § 17493. outlined above. It should be noted that the City's adoption of this Plan does not require or obligate the City to acquire any portion of any "surplus school acreage" located in Cypress unless and until the City expressly agrees to such an acquisition with the District, in writing. It should also be noted that there is nothing in the Naylor Act that suggests that this Plan cannot be amended at a future date when the City has more information regarding the properties that are actually being designated as "surplus" and offered for sale by the District, or in light of a change in the City's financial position or general or specific plans. CURRENT USES OF CLOSED SCHOOL SITES As noted above, there are four (4) Surplus Sites in the City of Cypress owned by the District and no longer being used for public school purposes which must therefore be analyzed in this Surplus Plan pursuant to Education Code §§ 17493 and 17499: the Mackay Site, Cawthon Site, Damron Site and Swain Site. The Surplus Sites are all currently utilized for the school and /or open space purposes detailed below. The Mackay Site The Mackay Site has not been utilized by the District for public education since its closure in 1980, when the District experienced a marked decline in enrollment as the "baby boom" generation aged. After the school's closure, the District leased the Mackay Site for use by private childcare and pre- school programs between 1980 and 2004. In addition, since 1978, the Mackay Site has been used for open space and recreational activities, including but not limited to its use as a practice facility for both soccer and baseball. When on -site open space is available, other youth sports are permitted to use that open space for practice by the City with the final approval of the District. The Cawthon Site The Cawthon Site is currently used as follows: • The recreational facilities and "open space" grounds are used by the City for community recreation purposes (without charge). 6 537 • The school facilities (i.e. office, multipurpose room, and all classrooms) are leased to Grace Christian School (Private Elementary School program) • The childcare /pre - School "portables" are leased to O.C. Kids Childcare Inc. for the Infant Care program, Preschool & Kindergarten Best Quality Montessori Program. The Damron Site The Damron Site is currently used as follows: • The recreational facilities and "open space" grounds are used by City for community recreation purposes (without charge). • The school facilities (i.e. office, multipurpose room, and all classrooms) are teased to Del Sol School, a California non- profit educational corporation, which is a private school specializing in preschool, elementary school, after school, and summer camp programs. The Swain Site The Swain Site is currently used as follows: • Rosen Acacia Park is provided for use by the community as "open space" (without charge). • The recreational facilities and grounds are used by the City for community recreation purposes (without charge). • Two classrooms and the former main office area leased to Apple Tree Early Intervention Center Inc., a private non - profit pediatric therapy and child care development center. • Half of the school building (Le. the multipurpose room, kitchen, and 13 classrooms) are leased to Wisdom Mission School & Chapel, a private school operating an educational program, including high school courses, an after- school elementary program, language classes, and SAT preparation classes. The following table provides basic information regarding all of the Surplus Sites analyzed in this Surplus Plan. Figure 1 of the Appendix depicts the geographic area served by the District. Table 1 Open Space & Sports Usage at Surplus Sites School Site Existing Use School Total Acres School Open Space Acres Field Allocations at School Site Cawthon Private School 9.19 4.5 Soccer Damron Private School 8.95 4 Soccer /baseball Swain Private School 10.14 5 Soccer /baseball Mackay Not Occupied 9.7 4.5 Soccer /baseball 7 538 CITY'S CURRENT OPEN SPACE AND RECREATIONAL NEEDS The Open Space /Recreation Element of the City's General Plan addresses the need for the City to provide adequate parkland, open space and recreational resources to City residents and workers. The City of Cypress is primarily a bedroom community with many families and residents who utilize the City's parks, recreational facilities and open space. Open Space Considerations - Park Perspective The City's General Plan specifies an adopted park standard of three acres per thousand residents at City parks, and an additional one and one half acres per thousand residents on school sites. Accordingly, the City currently has a shortfall of almost 46 acres of park area. For this reason, and in an attempt to address this shortage of park and open space, it is important that the City exercise its maximum rights under the Naylor Act to acquire and maintain park and open space in the Cypress community. To date, only the Mackay Site has been designated as "surplus" by the District. As noted above, this site is currently utilized as a practice facility for both soccer and baseball. Pursuant to the Naylor Act, the District has offered, and the City has agreed, to purchase 30 percent (or 2.9 acres) of the Mackay Site in order to maintain outdoor recreation and open space uses thereon. The remaining 6.8 acres of the Mackay Site will be developed by Warmington Residential California, Inc. (if the re- zoning necessary for that development is placed on the ballot and approved by the Cypress voters). The City's "open space" portion of the Mackay Site, located at the southwest portion of the property, will be developed and utilized as parkland, as it is not sufficient in size to accommodate either a soccer or baseball field on which the current youth sports uses can continue. Thus, if and when the Mackay Site is purchased and developed by the City and Warmington, respectively, the current youth sports activities on the Mackay Site will need to be relocated to other facilities that can accommodate the demand for play. Open Space Considerations - Youth Sports Perspective As noted previously, the Naylor Act applies to "surplus" school sites which are used for school playground, playing field or other outdoor recreation purposes and other open space particularly suited for recreational purposes. This description applies to the areas of a school used by community youth sports groups and includes sports fields, parking, black top play areas and other associated amenities. Blacktop play areas are included because these areas provide recreational opportunities, including basketball courts which are used by youth organizations for practice as well as by the general public. Currently, various youth sports groups utilize all four of the Surplus Sites, which are each allocated for use by one or more sports groups, as specified in the "Current Uses" section above. Accordingly, it is important that the City exercise its maximum rights under the Naylor Act to acquire and maintain recreational facilities which are used for youth sports and other recreational groups in the community. 8 539 Due to the current use of all of four Surplus Site for youth sports, the City has invested money and resources into those facilities and relies on their availability for these recreational uses. For example, to facilitate the use of school fields for youth sports and other recreational activities, the City and other groups have installed permanent lighting at some Surplus Sites. In addition, the recreational facilities on certain Surplus Sites need to be maintained in order to support other sports such as softball and baseball, where the amenities needed to play the sport are more elaborate and difficult to relocate. Examples of these amenities include baseball backstops, brick dust infields, dugouts, batting cages, snack bars, restrooms, etc. Finally, as all of the Surplus Sites are heavily utilized by youth sports and recreational groups, if even one was to be completely eliminated as an open space area, the activities that site supports likely could not be relocated to another open or closed school -- because all sites are currently in use by one or more groups. For example, relocating the soccer facilities at the Mackay Site is not possible at this time due to the lack of available unused or unallocated field space. In the future, it may be possible to relocate these facilities to Cypress Arnold Park; however, consideration of a re- design and remodel of this community park would be necessary in order to achieve shared usage capabilities in order to preserve play on the existing softball fields at the site. CURRENT ACQUISITION PLAN PURSUANT TO EDUCATION CODE § 17493 Stated generally, section 17493(a) of the California Education Code requires that a Surplus School Property Purchase Plan indicate (1) all "surplus acreage" in a public agency's jurisdiction (whether or those sites have been officially designated "surplus" pursuant to the statute or not); (2) of that "surplus acreage," what thirty percent (30 %) the public agency desires to purchase at a reduced price pursuant to the Naylor Act, if given the opportunity, in order to preserve the open space needed for the community; and (3) what seventy percent (70 %) the public agency does not want to utilize its Naylor rights to acquire. Specifically, this code section reads as follows: "(a) No public agency may purchase surplus school property from a school district pursuant to this article unless it has first adopted a plan for the purchase of surplus school property. The plan shall designate the surplus site or sites all or a portion of which the public agency desires to purchase at the price established pursuant to this article and shall designate at least 70 percent of the total surplus school acreage as property which the agency does not desire to purchase at the price established pursuant to this article. Where the plan indicates that the agency desires to purchase only a portion of a school site at the price established pursuant to this article, it shall designate the percent of the property to be so purchased and provide a description of the general location of the property to be purchased, without designating the metes and bounds." 9 540 To date, the Mackay Site is the only site in the City of Cypress that has both been formally designated as "surplus" and has the characteristics of a property subject to the Naylor Act. However, California Education Code § 17499 defines "surplus school acreage" (as that term is used with respect to the creation of a surplus school purchasing plan) as "property which is owned by a district and not used for school purposes, including, but not limited to, undeveloped property and property which contains school buildings that are not in use as a result of a school closure " (Cal. Ed. Code § 17499(c).) As noted above, here, this definition requires that the City's Surplus Plan analyze four (4) sites that constitute "surplus school acreage" in the City's jurisdictional boundaries: the Mackay Site, the Cawthon Site, the Damron Site, and the Swain Site (but not the District Office Site). Due to the considerations stated above, it is imperative that if and when the City is given the opportunity to do so, it must exercise its maximum rights under the Naylor Act to acquire and maintain open space for parks, recreational areas and youth sports activities. Accordingly, the below "Table 2" indicates (1) the acreage that the City currently intends to acquire if given the opportunity to utilize its maximum Naylor Act rights on the Surplus Sites; and (2) the acreage that the City will be acquiring on the Mackay Site, which has formally been designated as "surplus," which acquisition is equal to a thirty - percent portion of that site. Table 2 Recommended Open Space Acquisition at Surplus Sites CSD Closed School Site Total Site Acreage Acreage City Wants To Acquire Under Naylor Act to Preserve Open Space Acreage City Will Not Utilize Naylor Act Rights to Acquire Acreage to be Acquired by the City in 2014 Cawthon 9.2 2.76 6.44 0 Damron 8.9 2.67 6.23 0 Swain 10.9 3.27 7.63 0 Mackay 9.7 2.9 6.8 2.9 Totals: 38.7 11.6 27.1 2.9 As indicated in the table above, the City has the option of acquiring up to 11.6 acres of the total 38.7 acres which comprise the four Surplus Sites. Based upon the current open space needs of the community and the formal designation of the Mackay Site, staff recommends that, if given the opportunity to do so, the City utilize its Naylor Act rights to acquire a thirty percent portion of each Surplus Site. As noted herein, to date, the Mackay Site is the only Surplus Site the District has formally designated "surplus." In accordance with the above - stated need to preserve open space 10 541 for park, recreational and youth sports activities, the City has elected to exercise its Naylor Act rights to acquire a thirty percent portion of the Mackay Site for use as a park. Alternatively, the City could opt to later "bank" or "aggregate" its rights to acquire all or a larger portion of one or more of the other three Surplus Sites. If those sites are formally designated as "surplus," and if the recreational or open space needs of the community change and necessitate the preservation of more in one area of the community, the City can and should later consider a more concentrated use of its Naylor Act rights -- rather than the spread out approach mandated by the community's current needs. Finally, it must be noted that the approval of this Surplus Plan does not preclude the City from changing its above - stated preferences under the Naylor Act, which are based on the City's current recreational and open space needs as of the date that this Plan was adopted. If other Surplus Sites are designated "surplus," by the District, the City's Surplus Plan will be updated to address that designation. Only at that time will the data be available to facilitate a City decision regarding the appropriate way to exercise its Naylor Act rights. At that time, the City can develop a specific scenario that reflects current data on usage by neighborhood residents, youth sports groups, available park and open space, and make an informed decision regarding how best to exercise its rights under the Act. 11 0 1 . 0 Figure 2 C9prc65 5chool District Dietrict/5(.aoj Ijounclaries La Palrna Ave. Crescent Ave Linco'nAve. Oractc e Ave. a rLege�lltd;fly School Boundary Raiirt.v d Tra, ks Roedr.ay5 Los Alamitos Rs<eTlacl. arnrc i iosa�) Kateihi Av •Chr:il Stt interim Schad Site Temporarily Uos. Schoct Srte C1c,:.j Interior School S■te Vassels ;� Cerritos Ave Orangewood Ave. Alto 1: tlx: �,•� .; r. Garden Grove School District Dicker.on School is offically clos d as of Jura 2009. Swain Shcool Is offically cic.s as of June 2010. eoth the Dicl.er sari 4nd S.vain Siti-s W111 be us.<i as rater in sites for other schools dui ny their modernizitinr. 13 1)plsta tootps euuenes 541 Figure 3 City Parks Located within CSI) Boundaries cir 1 1 •••■•••••••••■• ••■•11111.1.11110 1 1 / .44 ! 4% • Acno!ckCyoressp ik i ... its idt I iire 1 i Eve•dree- Pa!!k ! I 1 1 tiosertfAcacia Park, --4, I I , on...hoe AY 4,....... Da X Knoll a'.1 %,— / ,.., i 1 .,, 1 1 1 ;.../. ,..;‘,. Pineveood Pa-i7S 1 1,1aturc Pari Vet-rans_Po ' ' — • I / 1 '! , Essex Park r ..1 ..., i 1 1 i I 1 1 *. Vesseds Pa* Cedar G!en Park I ! pa,a-0.1, Park- i Law& Park I !I — AR AC.' ly r as* ••••• IBarolthrSycamore Pars, C.CFIA!173.17 LEGEND M Community Park , Neighborhood Park * Mini - Park t■■•••••• Bikeway )Mapte Grove Park (Nolth) [Euratyp_tus park,,, Park I ' .! . 1 L Mape Grove Po;:k(Ou:k) 1, Peppertree PaOs I 1 g 1 14 0,24,14 3V,1011 AY •--- 544