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Superintendent lays out long funding fight to finish Mountain House master plan
Summary
Superintendent Dr. Nicholas told the Lammersville Joint Unified board that a mix of developer fees, Mello-Roos bonds, state matching funds and new certificate-of-compliance rules will be needed to finish planned Mountain House schools after repeated funding delays and developer nonperformance.
Superintendent Dr. Nicholas told the Lammersville Joint Unified School District board on Jan. 15 that building the remaining schools called for in the Mountain House master plan will require a complex mix of financing tools and stricter agreements with developers.
"There is no giving," Dr. Nicholas said, explaining that developer fees function as loans that must be repaid with interest and that the district has frequently had to front construction costs when state matching funds arrived late. He reviewed the district's toolbox — community facilities districts (CFDs), Mello-Roos bonds, developer fees, certificates of compliance and land-sale provisions — and traced how past amendments and disputed deals delayed projects such as Costa Elementary.
The superintendent described College Park as especially complicated because multiple builders and landowners created negotiation friction and inaccurate student-generation assumptions in Specific Plan 3. He said initial estimates for some school builds reached roughly $70 million before scope reductions; the district ultimately used a package of developer-fee commitments, Mello-Roos adjustments and a land-sale mechanism to finish Costa on schedule.
Looking north of Byron Highway, Dr. Nicholas said the district is planning for several new K–8 campuses and expects to add 15 permanent classrooms at Mountain House High School to address projected enrollment increases. "We are already behind in a weird way," he said, noting the district will rely on the next state construction bond cycle after Prop 2 and on more rigorous certificate-of-compliance requirements to ensure builders share financing pain when necessary.
Board members pressed for clarification on mitigation fees, legal caps and whether mitigation agreements set fees that can become outdated. Dr. Nicholas said mitigation agreements date to 1998 and have been amended, and that the district will apply a consistent model going forward so that builders seeking permits must sign agreements that help secure timely money for schools.
The presentation concluded with trustees discussing outreach and messaging to reduce misinformation in the community; the board did not take further action at the meeting beyond hearing the presentation.
