Historic Sacramento school to be sold as surplus property. Will it be preserved?
The Sacramento City Unified school board voted last week to declare a former East Sacramento elementary school as surplus property, setting the stage for the district to sell it.
Known as El Dorado Elementary School before it closed in the 1970s because of earthquake safety concerns, the 4.83-acre site at 5241 J St. has been operating as the A. Warren McClaskey Center, where it has offered programs for adults.
The school board voted to support historic designation for the site, which dates to the 1920s, but trustee Jasjit Singh said it was important “that we are maintaining this site to build housing.”
East Sacramento resident Shannon Ross left the Thursday school board meeting with a mix of feelings.
Ross, who has advocated for the former school’s preservation, took an adult education class at the center before it closed in recent months. She served on the surplus property committee that recommended the district sell the center but also ensure preservation of the historic buildings, with a range of possible uses envisioned by the committee on the property’s former schoolyard.
“The housing part is fine, but I just don’t understand why our leaders aren’t speaking about what it could be, what else it could be,” Ross said. “Who are we leaving that decision up to?”
Why the former school is being sold
The surplus property committee met four times between March and June. It determined the site was “no longer needed by” SCUSD and that the district could “pursue disposition and redevelopment of the property” provided certain conditions were met, according to the committee’s report.
The school board voted 8-0 last year to refer the site to the committee.
The center formerly served people like Ross, who took an upholstery class there, and adults with special needs who were part of separate programming.
Al Goldberg, a district spokesperson, said in a March 4 email that Charles A Jones Career and Education Center in south Sacramento had the space to absorb McClaskey’s programs. Goldberg noted that just five classrooms at McClaskey were being used and that the center was also “not up to code to be utilized for TK-12 educational purposes without significant investment.”
The potential sale also comes while the district has faced serious financial challenges in recent months, with a possible deficit of about $170 million and potential state receivership.
Included in the surplus property committee’s report were a broad range of recommendations. This included the construction of moderate and low-income housing that wouldn’t be more than two stories tall, various community or educational uses of the property and striving “to maximize the amount of open greenspace, landscaping, and outdoor community areas on the site,” according to the report.
Some of the committee’s desired land uses for the site include community and native plant gardens, an area for children’s play and a walking track.
“The report outlined a lot of hopes and dreams for the property,” Nathaniel Browning, the district’s director of facilities planning and sustainability, told the school board last week. “And it may not be fully tenable, but the intent of the report is sound.”
What happens now
The district is opting to sell the property through a portion of the state’s education code rather than the California Surplus Land Act.
Browning cautioned the board that under normal circumstances, if it declared the site surplus property and no buyer were found after 60 days, educational code would call for an auction at an open meeting.
“Imagine a whole bunch of folks up here, and you take the highest bidder,” Browning said. “You have no control over what they do with the property.”
Instead, the district will seek a state waiver so it can craft a request for proposal reflecting its hopes for the property. The board didn’t vote on the waiver Thursday, with Browning explaining it will require its own meeting. “We’ll come back to you with that,” Browning said as he stood in front of the board.
The board then voted 6-0 to receive the committee’s report, approve a letter supporting historic designation, declare the center surplus land and have staff refer to the report in evaluating initial proposals.
More could happen with the property this summer. The Sacramento Preservation Commission heard a presentation from city staff on June 17 about placing the site on the local historic register. On Aug. 7, the California Office of Historic Preservation will consider placing the center on the National Register of Historic Places, according to Sean de Courcy, the city’s preservation director.
Ross was in attendance at the June 17 city meeting, as was Bruce Marwick of the Sacramento Art Deco Society. The school was built in phases over the years, though this didn’t deter Marwick’s group. “What’s most important to us is some of the additions, particularly the 1939 auditorium,” Marwick said.
Another member of the surplus land committee, Will Green, also attended the preservation commission and school board meetings last week. “I think they’re heading in the right direction,” Green said. “It’s kind of been a long journey to get there, but I’m patient.”
Developer Bay Miry, whose firm Bardis & Miry Development is currently working on a multifamily housing project at the old Marshall School site in midtown, said via email that his company is “genuinely interested in the El Dorado site and have been carefully digesting the community’s input and priorities.”
Sacramento City Councilman Phil Pluckebaum expected that Miry's firm wouldn’t be the only developer interested in the former school.
“Them and everyone else that’s ever pulled a permit for anything has been eyeing this site for decades,” Pluckebaum said.
