City officials recently met regarding a private school’s interest in possibly using the Stoneman School building (above), which the city acquired in 2012.
A special closed-session City Council meeting that took place last week broached preliminary discussions regarding a potential property negotiation involving the Stoneman building and an area private school, officials from both parties indicated.
Temple City-based Oasis Trilingual Community School was listed as the potential buyer/lessee in the agenda for the special meeting, which was held at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, just before the regularly scheduled council meeting. City Manager Marcella Marlowe said this was the first discussion the council has had on the matter.
“We are in the very preliminary stages of discussion with Oasis,” Marlowe said this week. “No agreement has been reached. This was the very first conversation that the council even had. We’re not at a decision point right now.”
Oasis opened its doors six years ago with nine students at its current location and has since expanded to 48. The school offers a specialized program of Mandarin, Spanish and English while also including full arts and STEM programming, among others.
“We have a very solid and steady relationship at our current facility, but ultimately as we grow, we have to consider a larger facility,” said Harry Ralston, director of operations and business affairs at Oasis. “We’ve been looking around to consider that move over time. I’m not sure exactly how quickly that will happen for us.
“We’re just engaging in an initial conversation to see if this is a good fit for what we need and what they need,” Ralston added, on opening talks with the city of San Marino. “We’re hopeful and encouraged. We think it would be a great community for us to grow in if it works out long term.”
Closed-session meetings are customarily limited to items involving negotiations — including on labor issues or property transactions —to avoid revealing the city’s position to the other parties. Action taken in closed session is required to be reported, and usually amounts to directing the chief executive — in this case, the city manager — to engage the other party on the city’s terms. Closed-session meetings involve the city manager, council and the city’s legal counsel.
All five members of the council attended the Feb. 12 meeting.
Stoneman School — interchangeably called the Stoneman Center or Stoneman building — was acquired in 2012 for about $6 million from the San Marino Unified School District, according to Parks and Public Works Director Michael Throne. The building has since housed the city’s Recreation Department, which is undergoing a substantial reorganization and overhaul. The city’s purchase of Stoneman and subsequent investment remains controversial among residents who argue that the building’s growing needs amounts to a money pit.
During the 2017 City Council election, the topic frequently came up in campaign rhetoric and among voters. Among residents, a significant camp advocates for a robust recreation program that takes advantage of the facility, while others more or less favor jettisoning the property. The building named for former Gov. George Stoneman, who served from 1883-87, is in significant need of renovation and code updates, lacking amenities such as air conditioning and requiring the emergency installation of fire sprinklers last year after an inspection.
Planning and Building Director Aldo Cervantes said the firm Historic Resources Group determined for the city several years ago that Stoneman School qualified for historic landmark status at the state and federal level.
This isn’t the city’s first property negotiation involving the structure, located at 1560 Pasqualito Drive. The Chinese Club of San Marino was listed as the lessee in a similar closed session meeting on May 8. There was no reportable action in that meeting and there was never a follow-up scheduled.
Separately, the city has started a discussion of potentially relocating the Recreation Department. While unveiling nine proposed priority initiatives for the coming fiscal year, Marlowe noted that city officials are eyeing a renovation of the more centrally-located San Marino Center. One consideration here, she noted, was possibly running Recreation from that location.
All of that said, Marlowe emphasized that the city would take no decisive action on Stoneman without allowing for public input, be it at a council meeting, a monthly town hall gathering or some other public forum.
“We would never move forward with anything on Stoneman without giving the public a chance to share their thoughts,” she said.
