CARLSBAD — While the decision about what will ultimately be built on a vacant lot in La Costa Valley remains unknown, one thing is certain. San Dieguito Union High School District, which owns the property, has abandoned its original plans to build a middle school on the 22-acre site on Calle Barcelona.

“We don’t need another middle school right now,” said former Superintendent Peggy Lynch, who retired April 4. There are also currently no plans to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of the property. “There’s never been formal discussion about doing any of those things,” she said.

That’s not to say there haven’t been any discussions. According to a September 2004 North County Times article, the school board talked about possibly selling the site and using the money for a new middle school in the south end of the district. But that seems an unlikely scenario given the Mello-Roos rules that govern the property (see sidebar). “I think the money probably needs to stay within the area it was collected from,” said Steve Ma, associate superintendent of business services for the district.

There’s also the matter of a 2005 meeting between school officials and Carlsbad City Council members (see accompanying story).

Regardless of the types of discussions that did or did not occur, district officials say they plan to keep the site, even though it’s been costing them between $90,000 and $100,000 a year since 2006. According to state law, sites designated for grades seven through 12 are assessed a penalty fee if they are unused for seven years. “It’s really in lieu of property tax,” Ma said. On March 20, the district held the first of eight workshops as part of its new facilities action plan, which will evaluate enrollment and school sites district-wide. So what happens if, at the end of that nine-month process, the district does decide to sell the property?

The district must first offer it to government agencies, such as other school districts or the city. Carlsbad officials said it’s unlikely they would purchase the site at this time. If no one wants it, it can then be sold to a developer.

According to a flier distributed by Friends of North County, a nonprofit organization that has been investigating the site, low-income housing, commercial centers, apartments or industrial parks are all possibilities.

“The part about commercial or industrial was a stretch. That’s not going to happen,” said Carlsbad City Councilman Mark Packard. “That’s not a proper area for commercial or industrial. Most likely it would go to residential.”

During a community meeting March 26, Leonard Steinberg, president of Friends of North County, presented several newspaper articles about school sites in areas such as Poway and Orange County that had been purchased for low-income housing.

While Packard said “low-income housing would be theoretically … in the realm of possibilities,” he said he believes Carlsbad is already within the standards for low-income housing.

The state requirement is 10 percent, however, Carlsbad implemented a 15 percent requirement. “Since the state implemented that standard we have been requiring our builders to build it. We’re one of the few cities that actually require that it be built,” he said.

Steinberg said he and his group aren’t opposed to low-income housing. Their concern is high-density apartments. “La Costa Valley wasn’t built for the sheer number of people that would live there,” he said. Based on the acreage, Steinberg said the land could accommodate 840 apartments. Multiply that times 2.4 people per unit, and the result is 2,100 more residents in the area, which could present a need for a school. That gets back to the district’s decision to keep the land.

“If enrollments and demographics change in 10 or 15 years, and you no longer have property,” Lynch said, “then what do you do?”

Also at issue is a clause in Carlsbad’s master plan for La Costa Valley that states the zoning could revert to open space or low-medium density — not high density — residential after 10 years Although that reversion could occur this year, Packard said it wouldn’t necessarily be automatic. “According to our city attorney, that is a legislative decision the City Council has the discretion to make.”

Should the district decide to sell the land, Lynch said, “there’s a whole process to go through before a property is considered surplus. And that’s a very public process.” A general outline of that process is on the district’s Web site in a section of frequently asked questions about the La Costa Valley site.

Although La Costa Valley homeowners are governed by a homeowners association, the land isn’t owned by the association so it has no legal authority in the matter.

Of course, before anything besides a school is built there, the property must be rezoned. Since that responsibility lies with the city, Packard said he and his colleagues would do “what we think is in the best interest of our citizens.”