At its regular meeting Wednesday night, the William S. Hart Union High School District’s five-member governing board voted unanimously in favor of resolutions to approve the building of a new high school in Castaic and to approve the environmental impact report on the school’s proposed site in Romero Canyon.

Of concern to Castaic residents was the issue of a dual access to the campus of the yet-to-be-named high school. Currently, there will be access to the campus along Sloan Canyon Road/Canyon Hill Road. The resolution proposed a second access point along Baringer Road but left room for mitigation, in case the school encounters problems with permits.

“We are fully permitted for the primary access road, so that will be open in conjunction with the opening of the school,” said Gail Pinsker, Hart District community liaison officer. “We agree with the Castaic community, we would like to see a dual access road opened simultaneously with the school opening, but in case that can’t happen we do not want to delay the school opening.”

“This is the reason why we built in flexibility to our document to potentially allow the school to open without the secondary access,” said Tom Cole, the district’s chief operating officer. “As discussed last evening, the chance of the school opening without dual access is remote.”

The approval of these resolutions was the next step toward opening the highly anticipated Castaic High School.

Pinsker said it was “a tremendous milestone. This is the farthest ever the district has gotten in the process of developing a high school for the Castaic community.”

The Hart District plans to open the school in August 2013 for ninth graders only. The district will add one grade per year until it is a full, four-year high school.

For more updates on Castaic High School, photos and FAQs, visit the Hart District website here.