The Governing Board of the Wm. S. Hart Union High School District voted unanimously Wednesday night to select Lease-Leaseback as the delivery method for Castaic High School.

Now that the grading and site work is nearly complete, the Governing Board had been carefully considering which construction delivery method best suits the needs of this newest Hart District campus.

Since April, the Board has evaluated the options of Design-Bid-Build, Construction Manager with Multiple Primes, and Developer Built through the lenses of time, cost, and risk as well as control. Members of the District’s Facilities Modernization and Construction Monitoring committee have met with legal counsel, facilities consultants, and representatives from the Office of Public School Construction, or OPSC, to fully consider the pros and cons of each delivery method as it relates to this specific project.

At the May 18, 2016, Governing Board meeting, District staff indicated that in light of the recently published ruling in McGee v. Balfour Beatty Construction, Lease-Leaseback, or LLB, could be considered once again as a viable delivery method for Castaic High School. The McGee v. Balfour Beatty ruling held that a Lease-Leaseback, or LLB, contract without competitive bidding was legally enforceable, thus rejecting the findings in the 2015 Davis v. Fresno Unified School District case.

Lease-leaseback design and build projects are constructed pursuant to the provisions set forth in Education Code Section 17406, which authorizes school district governing boards, without advertising for bids, to lease property currently owned by a school district to any person, firm, or corporation for a minimum of $1 per year, as long as such lease requires the other party to construct–or provide for the construction of–a building or buildings upon the subject property, and that title to the subject property and the buildings vest in the school district at the expiration of the lease.

This statutory language requires that school districts first lease its property to a chosen design and build contractor. This delivery method to construction has been recognized by the State Legislature as a proven method to deliver school facilities on time, on budget, and with a reduced level of public agency risk associated with design issues, delays and costs overruns.

“The Lease-Leaseback method was a method we wanted to use over a year ago,” said Rob Hall, president of the Governing Board. “And then when the Fresno decision came out we then had to look at other methods that has delayed us being able to take that next step as we investigated this. Now that the Lease-Leaseback has been brought back to the table it gives us the most preferred method we’ve wanted since the beginning. It allows us to control the cost, the time and the quality of the project up front. Our consultant (Lundgren) tells us the same thing… that we can get a lot of the issues out on the table before we start building and dealing with the lowest bidder who is always looking to add more charges to the contract.”

“I’m excited that we’ve taken another giant step forward to get the HS done,” said Governing Board member Joe Messina. “This is a great thing for us. That contract will be coming back to us shortly and we’ll be putting up walls soon.”

Sue Solomon, a governing board member of the Newhall School District and former member of the Hart School District’s Measure SA oversight committee, spoke before the Hart Board at Wednesday night’s meeting.

“As a governing board member, I find (Lease-Leaseback) is the most efficient and productive manner to build a school. It has been cost effective.”

With Wednesday night’s decision, the Governing Board is taking an important “next step” in making the District’s newest high school a reality, and construction could begin as early as January, 2017. Design work is being completed with a special focus on Technology and Career Technical Education.

“Our architects for this project have created a “21st century learning environment” that will offer Hart District students all of the opportunities that are well known on our other campuses,” said Vicki Engbrecht, Superintendent of the Hart School District.

“We are excited to move this process forward,” Hall said. “We need to get Castaic open. We hear the community. We hear what the people want and we are finally taking the last step to get this school started.”