Well, the hammer came down on Castaic High School again this week...

After many frustrating delays (the last we heard it was to open for the 2010 school year), the project has now been pushed out to a (gasp!) 2014 completion date.'

Not that I buy this date either, since the school is joined at the hip to SunCal's proposed housing development in the north Castaic area. With SunCal still in the EIR process on this development, many were expecting Los Angeles County officials to slam this one through just to get the high school put in place. However, cooler heads prevailed and they decided to go through the normal processes for the housing development itself, which means that the high school will have to wait as well.

So, many people ask, why is the Hart School District still putting all of its eggs in the SunCal basket on this critical high school instead of seeking another parcel of land? Well, in a word, because it's FREE!

Still, the costs of reallocating the Castaic High School students to other Santa Clarita area campuses for the next several years is not a very inviting prospect to anyone concerned, nor is it going to be free. At some point, millions of dollars will need to be invested in obtaining and installing temporary buildings on one of the campuses (most likely at West Ranch High School in Stevenson Ranch).

So, for the next two years, incoming freshman from the Castaic and Val Verde areas will be attending Valencia High School. And then for the following two years the incoming freshman have been slated to attend West Ranch High School. What happens after that, and just how fractured is the Castaic community going to become with their high schoolers attending classes all over town? And, how are these other campuses going resolve the overcrowding issues that will result with these reallocations?

Linda Slocum

SantaClaritaRealEstateBlog.com