HIGH SCHOOL TO TAKE LAND; SMALL PARCEL TO BE ACQUIRED THROUGH EMINENT DOMAIN.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Staff Writer

After failing to come up with a suitable agreement with property owners, the William S. Hart district is planning to take over a small parcel of land through eminent domain as the site for Golden Valley High School.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday night, the board agreed to begin proceedings to take over 1.5 acres on the northern portion of property proposed for the school.

``It's a legal process we need to utilize because we don't have an agreement,'' said Wendy Wiles, legal counsel for the district, who made a brief presentation before the board vote.

Initially, the district approached the property owners Ersland Training Center Corp./NTS to acquire a larger portion of their property, between 26 to 40 acres, including the small parcel, Wiles said. The effort was unsuccessful.

In October, the district offered NTS $6,250 for the 1.25-acre property. After asking for a short extension, NTS declined to sell the land.

It's not the little piece of land, said Hal Lipchik, vice president for NTS. It's being able to conduct our business as it is normally done.

Lipchik said they need the land for additional space to suit their customer requirements, for safety and security reasons and to comply with government standards of the minimum safe distance to continue operating dangerous munitions and aerospace testing.

``It's not the taking of the land, it's the safety,'' Lipchik said.

The land was appraised for an unvalued amount, Lipchik added.

``They appraised the land as desert with nothing on it,'' said Lipchik. ``It's worth a lot more than that to us.''

Company officials said that at one point the district was willing to trade land with NTS but they have heard nothing from the district recently.

In acquiring the additional land, the school district had hoped to mitigate a large landslide area, one of two located immediately outside the school site area.

``We were going to expand the school site and address the landslides,'' said Wiles. ``But they didn't want us to build anything on their property.''

The school district said the landslide issue can be mitigated. However, if NTS ever decides to build on their property, it would have to gain access through the school land something that could seriously affect the future school.

``We offered to do the job now to do it jointly,'' said Wiles. ``But they won't allow us.''

When NTS refused school-district acquisition of more of their property, the district again approached the property owners to purchase the 1.5-acre parcel.

When the second attempt also failed, the request to proceed with eminent domain came before the board.

As part of the process, officials said they will file a complaint with the court and ask that the court give them the right to the property. Thirty days after the approval is granted, the district will have possession of the property.

According to Wiles, the 1.25-acre property is expected to house a playing field for the new school.

This is the second time the district has initiated eminent-domain proceedings for the proposed Golden Valley school. Several months ago, the district started similar proceedings for the nearly 5-acre site.