Porter Ranch, District Agree on School Sites

The Los Angeles Unified School District and the developer of Porter Ranch have reached a tentative agreement over sites for new schools in the massive project, eliminating a major sticking point in a deal that would protect the project from slow-growth restrictions.

In addition to $18 million in fees that Nathan Shapell’s Porter Ranch Development Co. must pay to the school district, the developer will donate a seven-acre site for an elementary school after half of the houses in the project are sold.

Last year, the City Council approved 3,395 houses and apartments and 6 million square feet of commercial space on the 1,300-acre Porter Ranch above Chatsworth. Porter Ranch and Los Angeles planning officials are negotiating a deal to protect the project from tampering by slow-growth advocates.

In return for the protection, Porter Ranch has promised public improvements that it otherwise would not be required to make--including street improvements and sites for new schools. Eventually, the council must approve the deal, which includes the tentative agreement announced Thursday.

Porter Ranch also will set aside a 15-acre site for a junior high school, to be sold to the school district when 60 percent of the project’s houses are sold. The developer also will give the city $220,000 to relieve school overcrowding caused by two other projects outside the development.

School board member Julie Korenstein, a longtime Porter Ranch critic who represents the area, said the agreement sets a precedent for future cooperation between the district and developers.