711 committee recommends surplus and residential reuse for several Pomona Unified sites; board receives report

An advisory committee convened under Government Code Section 711 presented a multi‑site surplus‑property report to the Pomona Unified School District Board of Education on Jan. 15 and the board voted to receive the report.

Dominic Dutra, a consultant who assisted the 7‑to‑11 community advisory committee, and committee members including Andrew Quiñones and Violeta Alvarado summarized findings and options for five priority parcels: the San Antonio site on Kingsley, the Diamond Point Center on Sunset, the adult school site on Mission Boulevard, the Palomares site on North Orange Grove and the Village Academy property. The committee’s recommendations, offered as planning options, included sale for residential development, ground leases for rental housing, and, in specific cases, exploration of lease options to produce ongoing district revenue.

The committee provided conceptual layouts and estimated residential densities for each site to show how the properties might be redeveloped. Examples cited in the report included a lower‑density single‑family/townhome plan for the San Antonio parcel (shown in the materials as about 78 units in one conceptual scenario) and denser apartment options for larger sites such as the adult school parcel. The committee also reported an unsolicited industrial offer for the adult school’s industrial‑zoned portion — roughly $16 million — and noted the City of Pomona’s ongoing zoning update and housing‑element context.

Consultants and committee members explained the difference between selling property (capital proceeds that under existing state rules can be used for capital purposes) and leasing property (which can produce unrestricted operational revenue). They described long‑term ground leases (30–99 years) commonly used for large apartment projects and said a market‑rate ground lease could produce steady annual revenue for the district while keeping the land under district ownership. The committee recommended that Diamond Point be considered for sale or lease with a preference for lower‑density residential options and that the adult school be marketed first for ground‑lease options prioritizing mixed residential/community use, with sale for residential development as a secondary option.

For Palomares the committee recommended declaring the site surplus for future planning and potential residential reuse; for the Village site the committee recommended surplus status to allow the district flexibility to lease currently vacant space to community uses and generate income while preserving existing educational uses. The committee also urged the district to explore legislative avenues with other districts to obtain more flexible use of proceeds from property sales.

The board voted 5‑0 to receive the advisory report; staff said future steps would include Board consideration of formal surplus declarations, potential state waiver requests to permit criteria beyond price in selecting developers, and the issuance of requests for qualifications/proposals to market selected options.