Cold Spring School looks to get overhaul with Measure R 2008

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

The majority of choices voters will face during the Feb. 5 California primary election consist of big names and big issues.
But for roughly 1,800 Montecito voters, Measure R 2008, which calls for the approval of an $8.75 million general obligation bond to improve facilities at the small Cold Spring School, will be one of those choices.

In order for Measure R to pass, 55 percent of those voters will have to vote yes, and few hope that happens more than Bryan McCabe, superintendent and principal of Cold Spring School.
“It needs to be gutted and cleaned up,” McCabe said of the aging school, much of which was built 80 years ago. “It was a neat little school in 1927, but times have changed.”
During a press conference yesterday at the school, McCabe and Cold Spring School Board of Education members Mike Hieshima and Laura Wyatt outlined what the bond will be used for.
McCabe said the majority of the funds would be used to repair and remodel seven of the school’s oldest classrooms, construct and renovate restrooms, and improve the grass playing field.
About 6,000 square feet of new facilities are also planned, which will include four new classrooms and four new student restrooms, of which only three currently exist.
Wyatt said the grass field has been taken over by gophers and as a result, the school’s annual jog-a-thon can’t be held there.
When it rains, sand from the playground area makes its way onto surrounding pavement, which requires hours of cleanup, and due to traffic on Sycamore Canyon Road, the entrance for the school requires visitors to walk through the school before checking in at the office. McCabe said this constitutes a possible security issue for students.
“It’s getting to the point where it’s broken,” Wyatt said of the school.
Combine these things with what McCabe said are chronically leaking roofs and outdated cabinets and storage space, and you have a ballot measure he believes is a no-brainer for local residents to approve.
But it comes at a cost.
McCabe said homeowners living within the Cold Springs District, which is roughly the western one-third of Montecito, would have to pay $19.70 per every $100,000 of the assessed value of a home.
He said the median assessed value of homes in this area is $650,000, which would translate into an annual payment of about $120 until the bond is paid off.
While that total will greatly increase for a person who bought a home recently for several million dollars, Hieshima said the $19.75 figure, regardless of a home’s assessed value, would make up less than 1 percent of the homeowner’s annual property taxes.
“It’s not a material increase and I think what we get out of it as a community is much better,” McCabe said.
It’s not the first time Cold Spring School has had bond measure on the ballot.
In November 2006, the $14 million Measure K was narrowly defeated after it received only 51 percent of the vote. Hieshima said that measure fell only 50 votes shy of being approved.
He and McCabe said they’re optimistic about Measure R because it’s leaner and will appear on a ballot less riddled with state ballot measures.
After Measure K was defeated, McCabe said board members conducted hearings and asked the public what they would approve.
Wyatt said some of the main things cut from Measure K include a proposed new office building, an expanded auditorium and new playground equipment.
“We really did listen to the community and rearranged,” she said.
McCabe said the only other bond he knows of in the school’s history came in 1996, when voters approved the $2.9 million Measure O, which was used to build five new classrooms and renovate the auditorium.
If voters approve Measure R, McCabe said he’s sure the school can adequately serve Montecito elementary school students for decades to come.
“We’ve identified what Cold Spring School needs to be a state-of-the-art educational facility,” McCabe said.
If the bond is approved, McCabe said renovations should begin this summer and new construction could commence as early as next summer, with all of the projects being completed by late 2009.