Commission sends city letter concluding SBUSD property acquisitions are consistent with Santa Paula’s general plan

Planning staff presented a request for a general-plan consistency determination under Public Resources Code §21151.2 after the Santa Paula Unified School District submitted letters seeking both prospective and retroactive consistency findings for several properties near Santa Paula High School.

Mr. Tarantino explained the state requirement that cities review school-district property acquisitions for consistency with the general plan within 30 days of the district’s request and said the district had acquired some parcels without prior city consistency determinations. Staff concluded the proposed school-site uses are consistent with several General Plan goals (land use, circulation, public services and economic development) and recommended the commission direct the Community & Economic Development director to send a letter to SBUSD noting consistency.

Commissioners asked for clarifications on the acquisition timeline and whether the city should consider updating land-use and zoning maps for the affected parcels. Staff said the school district is a separate government entity and that, while the public-resources code requires notice and an opportunity for comment, enforcement options are limited. The commission voted to adopt staff’s recommendation and direct staff to send the consistency letter.

The staff memo and presentation listed addresses including 32 Palm Court and referenced other Palm Court parcels that were previously acquired; the transcript contains garbled parcel strings in places (e.g., "78313234"), which staff said they will clarify in the record and in the letter to SBUSD.