District pledges more outreach on Dana Hills project

A date hasn’t even been set for a groundbreaking yet, but plans for a new performing arts theater at Dana Hills High School are already creating plenty of drama.

The Capistrano Unified School District adopted plans for a 470-seat, $13 million facility that would replace the 38-year-old Porthole Theater. The building would total 30,560 square feet and stand 55 feet tall to accommodate moveable backdrops and other technology for productions.

Supporters say the new theater is a much-needed upgrade for the South Orange County School of the Arts program.

“With over 450 SOCSA students at Dana Hills High School, this new facility would provide much needed space for new classrooms, performances and a state-of-the-art facility to learn in,” said Alan Wickstrom, the past president of the SOCSA Foundation. “This will also provide a single place where all of SOCSA can be housed in one facility. Today, SOCSA’s classes are scattered throughout the Dana Hills Campus and having all the teachers and classes in one area will provide for better team work among faculty, coaches and students.”

But some nearby residents and city officials however, say they should have been consulted before the school district wrote the final script on the project.

“The City of Dana Point is genuinely concerned over the lack of public notice given to our residents regarding the Project,” Director of Community Development Kyle Butterwick wrote in a February 25 letter to the school district. “…Several residents in the area have expressed serious concerns about project impacts now that they have learned about the project.”

In a September 2009 letter to the district, Butterwick outlined the city’s concerns:

• Environmental-impact studies should have included view simulations on the 55-foot-tall building would look in the otherwise-residential area, where buildings are limited to 28 feet tall. In fact, Butterwick writes, the tallest building in the city is now 40 feet tall. “The city considers a 55-foot high structure to be potentially incompatible with the existing surrounding land uses,” he writes. “It will have a potentially negative impact on the visual character of the surrounding community and the city as a whole.”

• Noise and light impacts, he says, weren’t properly studied.

• The high school doesn’t have enough parking. He said the studies accurately point out the new facility will need 118 parking spaces, but says the school’s entire parking plans need to be looked at. “The city has significant concerns on the parking issue,” Butterwick writes. “The high school is currently deficient in parking for its students and teachers. The students regularly park on busy arterial streets surrounding the school on a daily basis due to inadequate parking.”

But because the school district is a state agency, some residents are concerned the city’s codes and ordinances won’t get proper consideration. About 150 people showed up at a July 15 meeting about the project hosted by the school district.

Superintendent Dr. Joseph Farley was just days into the job when he attended the meeting. He said the district will do a better job of reaching out to the public and addressing their concerns. “We really want to hear what the issues are and involve them in a greater degree in the discussion about this,” Farley said.

Trustee Anna Bryson, who represents the Dana Hills area, said the board has worked closely with SOCSA for years and wants to extend that relationship to the neighborhood. The district did hold a public comment period about a year ago and will continue to reach out, she said.

The superintendent said more public meetings are planned with neighbors: The first will be Thursday, August 19 and the second September 2. Both will be at 6 p.m. at Dana Hills High. Parking, traffic, visual impacts and other issues related to the high school neighborhood will be discussed, CUSD Deputy Superintendent Ron Lebs says in a letter going out to 900 nearby residents.

That is music to Terry Goller’s ears.

Goller’s daughter was in Dana Hills’ first graduating class, in 1976. Her son graduated in 1978, a grandson graduated as a Dolphin in 2007, and now she has other grandchildren at the school. She even attends events at the Porthole Theater, actually preferring productions there, she said, to shows at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

But she also lives in the neighborhood closest to Dana Hills High and her street shares the entry road—Acapulco Drive—with the school. And as much as she bleeds Dolphin blue, Goller says, enough is enough.

“There used to be more basketball courts. Now there are portables. There used to be gardens. Now there are portables. There used to be a large practice sports field. Now there are portables,” Goller said. “They’re just built out. It would be nice for kids to have an upgraded arts venue—they do great job—but at expense over all population and neighborhood, it’s not right place.”

At one point, there was talk—concern among some—that the South Orange County School of the Arts would move from Dana Hills to the newer San Juan Hills High School, which has a state-of-the-art theater, nestled away from neighbors off Avenida La Pata in San Juan Capistrano. Additionally, SOCSA founder Robert Riggs moved to that campus when it opened.

But Barbara Bond, the new president of the SOCSA Foundation, said that isn’t going to happen. “There may have been some thought about that at first, but I don’t think there’s any intent to move SOCSA over there,” she said. “It would be great if San Juan Hills created a second program there, because there’s so much demand in South County for the program.”

The roots of the South Orange County School of the Arts go back to 1989, when a small group of administrators, teachers, parents and students began to talk about creating a visual and performing arts public high school. CUSD trustees approved the concept in 1995, and the pilot program was launched at Dana Hills in 1996. SOCSA students receive increased instruction in Dance, Drama, Musical Theatre, Vocal Music, Production/Design and Visual Arts.

The foundation was created in 2000 and has led the drive, with Dana Hills Principal Dr. Robert Nye, to replace the Porthole since 2007.

The project got an emotional boost when the district received a $3 million grant from the state, but that leaves $10 million that will have to be raised. So far, SOCSA has pledges for about $50,000.

Farley cautions the need to raise millions of dollars ensures the district has time to listen to the public and city and continue to improve the project and school as a whole. “It’s still a ways in the future,” Farley said. “There’s some things we can do with landscaping to use the building to enhance the neighborhood.”

Bond, who has two children in the SOCSA program and a background in raising money for public television, knows finding $10 million in the current environment won’t be easy. But the district’s efforts at reaching out the public will help, she said.

“The meetings that the district is having with the community are really important. There’s a good portion of the community that is not aware of the project at all,” Bond said. “These meetings are good not only to address the concerns of people in surrounding neighborhoods but also to raise awareness and support in the community.”

Bond and other supporters hope the increased communication moves the public sentiment from an effort to break the project to cheers of “Break a leg” when the curtain finally rises at a new SOCSA theater.

See the city’s letters at www.danapointtimes.com and see more about the project at www.socarts.org