On May 26, 2020, the Board approved an agreement to relocate staff and students from the Franklin Children’s Center (FCC) to a yet to be developed new facility on the Parma site at 915 E. Montecito St. At the time, former superintendent Matsuoka intended to use $2,400,000 in Measure J 2016 Bond funds identified for the replacement of portable classrooms at Adelante to fund the new construction at Parma. Once the new complex was complete, FCC would move to Parma, and Adelante would take residence in the vacated FCC facilities. Discussions with our architect, and Daisy Ochoa, Early Childhood Education Coordinator, have identified some issues the Board needs to be advised of.
Parma
There are several issues at Parma that need further consideration.
The existing structures at Parma are not Field Act compliant, which means they do not meet the seismic requirements mandated by the Division of the State Architect (DSA) and the California Department of Education (CDE) for housing students and certificated staff. This means that demolition of the old structures and site development will need to occur prior to any new buildings being constructed for student use.
The California Department of Education (CDE) also requires that all new preschool classrooms provide 35 square feet per student of interior space, and that each of the classrooms are required to have their own restrooms. There will also be a need for adult restrooms, and office and reception spaces.
In addition, the CDE requires 75 square feet of outdoor recreation space, per student. While we do have sufficient space to construct the building and outdoor space, and the required accessible parking spaces required by DSA, there will be very few parking spaces available onsite for staff and visitors. This will result in staff and visitors parking in a few spots along the street, or in the parking lot across the street from the property currently used by Trader Joe’s.
Franklin Children’s Center
Another consideration is around equity for the Early Education program at Franklin Children’s Center. When the plan was developed, Early Education staff did not have a voice in the discussion. Both the former coordinator and Ms. Ochoa have since indicated that they are not in favor of relocating the program. Both indicated that they were very content with their current facility, and noted that the existing playground at FCC was recently renovated specifically for their program. For comparison purposes, FCC sits on approximately two acres, while the Parma site is a little over one-half acre in size.
Budget
Another major consideration is available funding. As mentioned above, the Measure J Bond funding allocated for Parma is $2,400,000. Based on the recent cost of construction we have seen on other projects, this will fall far short of the funding necessary to demolish and remove the existing structures, perform hazardous materials abatement, replace the inadequate site utilities (water, sewer, gas), develop the required outdoor recreation space, and construct the new building. Preliminary estimates place the cost at nearly $7,000,000.
Adelante
This discussion will obviously have an effect on planning for the staff at Adelante. We have paused the design process at Parma to allow the Board to consider the challenges identified, and to give direction to staff on what information the Board would like to see to better inform a future decision on the location of the two programs.
Options
Some of the options the Board could consider are:
? Terminate the addendum to the Facility Use Agreement, and leave both programs in their current locations.
? Reallocate the $2,400,000 to new classroom buildings at Adelante, and leave the Child Development Program in its current location.
? Sell the Parma property and allocate the proceeds to the Measure J Bond program.
? Sell the Parma property and allocate the proceeds to new classroom buildings at Adelante.