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Board approves Rancho Sonata zoning exemption and preconstruction services contract
Summary
The Orange County Board of Education voted to authorize an exemption from county zoning rules for the Rancho Sonata site under Government Code 53094 and approved a preconstruction services agreement with CW Driver to build access roads and utilities for the project.
The Orange County Board of Education voted May 7 to adopt a resolution exempting the Rancho Sonata school site from certain Orange County zoning requirements and to authorize preconstruction services with CW Driver for site access and utility work.
Staff explained the zoning exemption is authorized by Government Code section 53094 and would avoid a time‑consuming county planning‑commission approval process; the Department of State Architect (DSA) review and other state school‑project requirements will still apply. Staff told trustees that the planning‑commission route could add six months to a year or more to the schedule, and the zoning exemption would allow the project to proceed through DSA oversight without the extra local planning timeline.
The board then approved a preconstruction services agreement with CW Driver, selected through a request‑for‑proposals process. Staff said fourteen contractors submitted prequalification packets; a subset were interviewed and CW Driver received the highest score and the lowest cost proposal among finalists. The preconstruction services will include building the camp’s access road and connecting utilities to the Rancho Sonata base camp, and preconstruction review of design documents.
Both resolutions passed by voice vote with a 4–0–1 outcome (one member absent). Board members asked staff to provide the RFP scoring details for the record; staff agreed to circulate the contractor ranking and scoring used in committee selection.
