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Published on 07/21/1997 All articles from this issue

Council votes joint use for 401 Rosita, Hillview as backup

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

After months of community input, task force planning, and nearly a dozen design options, the city council voted unanimously for everyone's first choice for 401 Rosita Ave.: joint use with the school district.

The 5.5-acre former St. William School property at 401 Rosita Ave., bought by the city last November for recreational use, adjoins the Los Altos School District's Covington School site. Covington is currently used for district offices, and its pool is the home of the city's Masters' swim program.

"Wow!" said Los Altos City Councilwoman Patti Williams at the July 15 council meeting. Joint use "gives us the best of everything." There's room for a 25,000-square-foot indoor recreational facility, plus the chance of "working with the school district and working with the Masters' swim program," she said.

The joint-use plan calls for replacing the Covington multi-purpose room with a new city recreational building. Parking would be in an existing lot at Covington. The 401 Rosita site would then be used for soccer and ball fields, walk and play areas.

But not for skating.

Council members voted 3-2 that there would not be a skate facility at 401 Rosita.

"I don't want to cram any more onto this site," said Mayor Francis LaPoll.

Councilwoman Williams, who worked to get the temporary skate area at Hillview, was not happy with the vote. She did not want a decision on skating at Rosita until the skaters had a place to go.

Working out the details with the school district may take up to a year, officials said, because school district board members first intend to develop their own master plan to respond to school needs.

In the meantime, council members support a "phasing" of development at Rosita, if money is available.

"At least get it into soccer fields and ball fields," said councilman Lou Becker. "We can do that if we have joint use or not."

Should the district decide against joint use with the city, council members agreed that their second choice for the new recreational building would be on the site of the current city buildings on Hillview Avenue, with additional parking added behind those buildings.

School officials were scheduled to begin discussing the process Monday night at the school board meeting, said superintendent Marge Gratiot,. District issues include growing enrollment, aging buildings and needing more classrooms due to class-size reduction.

The board members indicated an interest in joint use at a June 16 study session, but now they need time to plan and consider if they will be re-opening Covington as a school.