For more than 30 years, the site of the former Patterson Elementary School, 320 Knob Hill Road, has been in search of an identity. After shutting its doors in 1981 due to declining enrollment, the site has twice been named surplus property by the Redondo Beach Unified School District, once in 1983 and again in 2008. For decades, the leftover buildings have played home to rotating sets of uses, from a charter school subleased under the City of Redondo Beach to, most recently, the L.A. County Office of Education.
But with the passage of zone-changing Measure K, which will appear on Redondo Beach ballots in a June 7 special election, the 3.37 acre site would become home to the Kensington, a residential home for the elderly, specializing in Alzheimer’s care.
“I’m ecstatic to see this happening,” said RBUSD Board of Education President Anita Avrick. “This is one of the first things I voted on after I was elected to the school board.”
In 2009, the RBUSD School Board began searching for potential long-term lease tenants for the property. However, bid after bid fell through, as charter schools, housing developments and a Whole Foods Market dropped in and out of the running.
Finally, 2012 saw a breakthrough, as the district awarded a 99-year lease to Fountain Square Development West for what would eventually become a two story, 96 unit, 80,000 square foot project. The project was most recently approved by the Redondo Beach City Council in January.
When completed, the project would generate $614,000 for the school district annually, allowing for the potential hiring of seven to ten more teachers and staff, according to school board member David Witkin.
That’s particularly important “in a time when enrollment in the district overall is increasing,” he said. It’s also considered critical as California’s Proposition 30 education-funding sales tax increase, passed in 2011, is due to expire in 2019. Should Prop. 30 go un-renewed, the district would lose approximately $3 million in funding.
Leasing of the land, rather than outright sale, is key. “If we sell it, we’re required [by California education code] to use the proceeds for capital improvements, when our needs are not capital needs; they’re ongoing salary and expense needs,” Witkin said. That funding benefits to the district come at no tax cost to Redondo’s voting public makes the project a “no brainer,” he said.
K has been placed on the ballot thanks to the passage of Measure DD in 2008. Additions to the City Charter made by DD cause many major zoning changes, including the conversion of public land to private use, necessitate a public vote. The 320 Knob Hill parcel is currently zoned as a P-CF community facility.
If passed, Measure K changes to the City’s General Plan, Coastal Plan and Coastal Zone would allow for the development of a Residential Care Facility for the Elderly on that parcel. It also modifies the City Charter, exempting potential suggested modifications to the project from triggering a second public vote.
The project has had widespread support since its announcement. Building a Better Redondo activist Jim Light has praised Fountain Square for their community work, calling them “a model of how a developer can and should work with the community.”
Witkin has been walking on behalf of the measure every weekend since K was put on the ballot, and has been taken aback by the need that community members have told him the project fulfills.
“It’s the most surprising aspect of this effort for me,” he said. “I’ve heard how many people have had to send their parents far away to get appropriate care — that we’re filling a need for them is very gratifying.”
