The Los Altos Hills City Council plans to ask the Los Altos School District to let it rent 3,000 square feet in the former Bullis-Purissima School for use as temporary office space during construction of the town’s new city hall.
City Clerk Karen Jost and Councilman Breene Kerr said that a quorum of three councilmembers unanimously agreed on the proposal in a special meeting Feb. 10. According to Kerr, the council wants the space for nine to 15 months, starting April 15. Groundbreaking for the new town hall is expected to take place in May or June.
Kerr is the chairman of the New Town Hall Committee, which presented the rental proposal to the three councilmembers. In a letter, dated Feb. 12, to the elementary school district’s board of trustees, Kerr wrote that the committee and the councilmembers also had considered renting portable buildings and commercial space. He added that he had met with the principal of Bullis Charter School, Wanny Hersey, and “determined that the Bullis site could accommodate the town’s needs without adversely affecting the charter school’s proposed use of the Bullis facilities.”
Kerr said last week that Superintendent Marge Gratiot has told him the school board will consider the council’s request at its March 1 meeting. Kerr said that he will address the board before it goes into closed session to discuss the matter. He expected the town staff and the school board to meet sometime this week.
Kerr said, “Both Marge and I hope this will be an opportunity for the town and the district to work together cooperatively.”
Kerr estimated that the school district could gain $60,000 to $100,000 through the proposed rental. “As I’ve said to (school trustee)Victor, you’ve got to call an awful lot of parents to raise this kind of money,” he said.
His letter stated that the committee “is reasonably familiar with the site and believes that the town’s proposed use would be compatible with other permitted uses of the site, including the operation of a 155-student charter school” during the next school year. He later remarked that the town’s use of the facility should not affect the school district’s decision about where to locate Bullis Charter School. The district’s deadline for making that decision is March 15.
In addition to renting space in the former administration building and one classroom, “presumably a portable,” the council plans to ask to use the multipurpose room for night meetings of the town and its council, commissions and committees.
Kerr said that the school site is the “best place” for the town’s temporary offices because it is close to its current offices, parking is readily available, and all meetings of the town and its groups could be held in the multipurpose room. The closest affordable commercial space is about 15 minutes away, on El Camino Real, he said.
“It seems like one of those win-win situations,” Kerr said. “Compared to having Bullis stand empty for another year, this seems preferable.”
