School District Plans to Build Housing for Workers on Old School Sites

The Ocean View School District in Huntington Beach wants to build housing for workers on two old school sites. The district hopes this will help teachers, police officers, firefighters, and other public workers live close to where they work. Right now, many workers have to drive long distances to get to their jobs because housing costs so much in the area.

The two schools that closed are Pleasant View and Sun View. Pleasant View closed in 1985, which means it has been empty for almost 40 years. Sun View closed more recently in 2018. Since then, Sun View has been used as a temporary school while other buildings were being fixed up with special funding called Measure R.

The school district received 25 different plans from companies that want to build the housing. Keith Farrow, who handles money matters for the district, presented these ideas to the school board. The board members discussed the plans during a meeting on Tuesday night. Farrow explained that the district has several goals for these projects.

The district's enrollment has been going down for years. Board President Gina Clayton-Tarvin said fewer students means they need to find new ways to use their properties. The district owns 25 different pieces of land, but only 13 are being used as active schools right now. Over the past ten years, the number of students dropped by almost 23 percent, which equals about 2,000 fewer kids.

Clayton-Tarvin believes both old school sites would work well for worker housing. She wants to make sure the homes are affordable for school district employees first. Then police and fire department workers could apply. After that, other public workers and finally regular citizens could have a chance to live there.