This is an ongoing challenge that has had some controversy in regards to safety which is always paramount when it comes to our kids.
It is a beautiful school in a vibrant and thriving community.

Story below.  Prior updates at bottom of this page.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/aug/18/double-peak-school-opening-delayed/

Artist’s rendering of the K-8 Double Peak School in San Marcos. — Charlie Neuman

by pat.maio@sduniontribune.com
(760) 529-4929
Twitter: @patmaio

SAN MARCOS — The opening of Double Peak School, the first K-8 grade school in the San Marcos Unified School District, has been delayed because of a legal dispute over the purchase of a small piece of land necessary to complete road improvements.

Originally scheduled to open this summer, officials say the dispute is likely to delay the school’s debut until August 2016.

The property at the center of the dispute makes up about 1/16th the size of an acre.

In a complaint filed with in state Superior Court in San Diego County, San Marcos Unified offered $2,050 to property owner White-Atterbury LLC to buy a 2,608-square-foot piece of property along South Twin Oaks Valley Road near where the school is to be built. The city wants the school district to widen South Twin Oaks Valley Road — which turns into San Elijo Road where the school is located — as part of an improvement necessary to complete construction of Double Peak.

The complaint says that White-Atterbury turned down the appraised market value of the land this summer. Byron A. White, an owner of the land that is part of a larger chunk of 91.17 acres valued at $6.2 million, was not available for comment.

San Marcos Unified Superintendent Kevin Holt wrote in a recent letter to parents that “unforeseen circumstances” in the negotiations to buy the land forced the district’s governing board of trustees to acquire the land by eminent domain, a process that could take several more months.

Holt and other district officials were not immediately available for comment on the land deal.

“Our attempt at good faith bargaining with the property owner, in conjunction with the legal proceedings of condemning the property, has delayed the contractor’s ability to begin the road improvements which are required by the city,” wrote Holt in his letter.

Holt estimated that the road improvements would not be completed until the end of May 2016. “I concur that these off-site road improvements are vital to ensuring the safety of our students and community and must be completed before the school opening,” he said.

The comprehensive elementary/middle school campus, the first of its kind in San Marcos Unified, was designed to serve between 700 and 1,000 students and help ease overcrowding at several district schools. The school is being built with fees collected by San Marcos Unified from developers affiliated with the San Elijo Hills real estate project. Earlier this year, San Elijo Hills had roughly 200 homes left to build.

San Marcos Unified bought the 36-acre site at 111 San Elijo Rd. from San Elijo Hills, and two other landowners with property located adjacent to the school’s main parcel, for about $10.5 million. The school’s construction is estimated to cost $65 million.

The first sign of trouble emerged in February when Holt announced that unexpected construction delays had pushed off the opening to at least January 2016 for the lion’s share of the incoming student population. The construction delays were attributed to two factors. It was taking longer than anticipated to get the state to sign off on modifications to Double Peak’s design and problems attaining the easements from landowners whose properties abut the school site.

Under the newly announced plan, families with an inter- or intra-district transfer student have one of two options for the 2015-2016 school year:

•  Their student can attend Discovery or San Elijo elementary schools, or San Elijo Middle School, for the entire 2015-2016 school year.

• They can return to their original home school and begin at Double Peak School in the 2016-2017 school year.

pat.maio@sduniontribune.com (760) 529-4929 Twitter: @patmaio

http://www.10news.com/news/location-of-new-school-in-san-marcos-worries-parents-02092015

http://www.thecoastnews.com/2015/02/20/district-will-delay-opening-of-its-double-peak-campus/

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/feb/04/san-marcos-delays-opening-of-double-peak-k-8/

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/jan/09/San-marcos-Double-Peak-school/