After hearing Gov. Doug Ducey’s call to fill all those empty schools and classrooms rampant in neighborhoods throughout the state, Tucson wants to do its part to help TUSD do exactly that.
Seizing the initiative, the city is considering offering a fast-track route through the city’s bureaucracy to anyone who wants to develop a former school site.
“It’s important to the city for those to be put back to use,” said Mayor Jonathan Rothschild. “If you’re looking at these properties, the city will help you expedite getting the properties developed.”
The city is especially interested in projects that include affordable homes that mesh with a neighborhood’s existing character.
“If we can get people to build single-family homes that are compatible with the neighborhood, that will help us get young families back into the city and make for a stronger city,” Rothschild said.
The city was actually a step ahead of the governor in trying to respond to the shrinking demand for classrooms, said Planning and Development Services Director Ernie Duarte.
Roughly six months ago, city officials set out to determine how they could assist in jump-starting those vacant-school projects, Duarte said.
“The idea is to get through the process with as few speed humps as possible,” Duarte said.
So what are some of the incentives the city will consider offering?
- Three-day plan reviews. The current standard is up to 20 days for a review.
- Defer building permit and impact fees until the final inspection of a project.
- Assign a project manager to oversee that the process is running smoothly.
“Anything the city can do to incentivize people to come in and utilize those properties, we’re going to be for it,” Rothschild said.
WELCOMED SUPPORT
H.T. Sanchez, superintendent of the Tucson Unified School District, appreciates the city’s desire to lend a helping hand with its eight vacant properties, saying it is a good approach that will be fruitful for the school district, neighborhoods and businesses.
Sanchez added that the incentives will ease frustration for possible buyers by allowing government to move at the speed of business rather than the other way around.
Schools such as Van Horne Elementary on the east side have been challenging to find a use for, since that particular one is situated right next to a landfill, Sanchez said.
There are some campuses, however, that TUSD is not itching to get sell.
Those include Wakefield Middle School on the south side, where the population continues to increase, and Townsend Middle School in the heart of the city, which the district hopes to one day utilize to expand the highly successful Dodge Traditional Magnet Middle School.
The city’s initiative comes on the heels of Ducey’s announcment that he wants to make empty campuses available to high-quality public and charter schools that have waiting lists.
In his State of the State speech, Ducey proposed allowing charter schools to apply to use empty schools and making capital available to those that are ready to expand.
For TUSD, which operates under a federal court order that dictates under what circumstances campuses can be leased or sold on the basis of racial integration, the issue is a complex one.
For example, if Townsend were to be leased to a charter high school that drew students away from TUSD’s Rincon, University or Catalina high schools — making the campuses racially concentrated — that would be in violation of the desegregation order, Sanchez said.
On the other hand, Sanchez said TUSD could benefit from funding to expand successful efforts at schools such as Dodge and C.E. Rose Pre-K-8 School, and is hopeful the opportunity would be extended equally to school districts and charter schools.
Before any incentives take effect, the city would have to ensure they comply with the state’s gift clause, which prohibits extending benefits to private entities without a direct public benefit.
The City Council will discuss the incentives on Wednesday.
