Historic joint meeting Monday for Council,
SPUSD Trustees
January 23, 2015
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
A historic joint meeting will be held Monday, January 26 when the Santa Paula City Council and the Santa Paula Unified School District sit down for a session to cover items of mutual concern.
The meeting will be held at the Community Center, located at the corner of West Main Street and Steckel Drive, starting at 6:30 p.m.
City Manager Jaime Fontes told the City Council at their January 20 meeting that such a session as being finalized.
“It’s monumental, it’s been years since this happened,” said Fontes of the joint session.
Actually the meeting will be the first of its kind: the Santa Paula Unified School District was formed in November 2012 when voters approved a plan to merge the elementary and high school districts.
More than a year ago discord between the city and the district surfaced over parking issues when construction at Santa Paula High School closed a parking lot. Neighbors complained about impacts, which led to the council declaring a parking district in the hardest hit Palm Court neighborhood over school district objections.
After public comment on non-agenized issues, Santa Paula High School area residents Kyle Campbell and Lois Zsarnay will present a brief overview of ideas for a proposed Santa Paula Union High School Safety Zone.
Representatives from Stantec Consulting Services will present an overview of a proposed study focusing on access, circulation and parking improvements for the high school.
The presentation should lead to some discussion: in the past the City Council had addressed such a study and suggested it include traffic issues all schools in the unified district.
In other business Mike Penrod of Parkstone Companies, the East Area 1/Gateway project manager, will update the city and school district representatives on the development.
