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Encinitas To Spend $10 Million To Keep Coastal Property Public

Ten years after it closed in 2003, Pacific View Elementary in Encinitas is still vacant.
Alison St John
Ten years after it closed in 2003, Pacific View Elementary in Encinitas is still vacant.
Encinitas To Spend $10 Million To Keep Coastal Property Public
GUEST:Tony Kranz, member, Encinitas City Council

There is a nice piece of property sitting just one home away from oceanfront bluffs in Encinitas. It's public land, owned by the Encinitas Union School District and site of the former Pacific View Elementary school. For the past 10 years it has been used as a storage facility and — after years of negotiating — the land has been finally sold.

The Encinitas City Council voted recently to buy the school site for $10 million to prevent a prime piece of public land from falling into private developers hands.

City Councilman Tony Kranz said the decision to buy the school site was important to him in part because of the historical significance. Kranz said a one-room schoolhouse was built there by the founders of Encinitas.

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When you look back at the people who made this place possible, Kranz said, they all saw it as a public place.

He said the City Council is working on the terms of the deal with the school district to ensure the site will remain a public space.

As for how the city determines what the site will become, Kranz said community meetings will be held.

"An art center gets talked about most of all," Kranz said.