LETTERS HIGH SCHOOL SITE CALLED VIABLE, SAFE.

As the governing board of the William S. Hart Union High School District, we are entrusted by this community to provide safe and secure academic learning environments for all students. As with existing school sites, all future school sites within our district will be held to the highest level of safety and concern for our students and staff.

We promote and encourage a full cooperative partnership between the community and the school district. Although it is conceivable that a project as innovative as the combined Golden Valley Road and high school venture may cause some degree of apprehension and skepticism within our community, this board would like to dispel the myths and reveal the realities and benefits of this project as we move forward toward the realization of a future high school site.

The Golden Valley High School site is highly advantageous to this community for many reasons. Because of its geographical location, this school will have a significant impact on reducing overcrowding at all other area high schools. This site is also a prime location for transportation circulation for the convenience of students, parents and the community at large. Upon approval by the state, local taxpayers will realize a cost savings of millions of dollars on the joint road-school project.

While the advantages of the proposed school site are clear, student and community safety has and will continue to be the district's top priority. As such, this board has contracted industry experts to appropriately address, identify, and offer solutions for any and all environmental and geological issues related to the site.

The Department of Toxic Substances Control provided technical oversight during an extensive, eight-month environmental site investigation. As a result, the DTSC concluded that the high school site is safe and does not pose a risk to human health or the environment. No further investigation or clean-up is required.

In regards to neighboring properties, zoning for the current and future land use for properties adjacent to the proposed school site includes commercial and residential. The school district will be a ``good neighbor'' to both existing and future owners. The fact that a school is in the area will limit the type of activities that adjacent property owners may conduct. In the future, only those activities that are conductive and appropriate next to a school site will be allowed.

The existing natural gas pipeline located on a corner of the proposed school site will be moved off the school property and travel underground along the same course as Golden Valley Road. The standard practice of the Southern California Gas Co. is to increase the level of safety and equipment whenever the opportunity presents itself. Moving the pipeline for this project will afford this community such an opportunity. The new pipeline will have fewer bends than the existing pipeline that currently travels up and down the hillside terrain. The addition of test monitoring stations, an automated shutdown valve system, state-of-the-art inspection capabilities, and a thicker pipe wall all will serve to enhance the integrity of the system.

High-tension power lines that travel the length of our valley are located west of the school site and also east near the Scenic Hills and Friendly Valley communities. The California Department of Education has strict guidelines regarding the proximity of a school site to electrical transmission lines. As such, the school site will meet or exceed all setback requirements from the power lines as determined by the state.

The San Gabriel Fault line crosses the Santa Clarita Valley. This fault line travels in a northwesterly direction to the west of Golden Valley Road and the school property. The building designs for Golden Valley High School have incorporated structural safety aspects and minimum setback requirements, as recommended by the district's geotechnical engineer.

While the school district will own the surface rights for the school site, Berry Petroleum will continue to own the mineral rights beneath the region. So that Berry Petroleum will not come onto the school property to access oil reserves that may be under the school site deep below the surface, an agreement has been reached that allows the oil company to retrieve possible oil deposits from off-site locations by slant drilling a significant distance below the ground surface. Prior to extracting potential oil deposits that may lie thousands of feet below the ground surface, Berry Petroleum still will be required to undergo the standard permitting process to address all environmental considerations. Although extraction by slant drilling is more expensive for the oil company, it will serve the interests of the school district far better than on-site entry.

The district is seeking direction from all appropriate federal, state and local agencies regarding all the issues associated with the proposed site. If, in the final conclusion, there are issues that cannot be fully resolved, the district will not build a school upon the site. So far, all expert findings based on scientific analysis for this project have conveyed to the district that this is a viable, feasible and fully mitigable site.

The governing board is committed to building safe schools that will serve our students and community now and into the future. All schools should be places of tremendous pride for students, and monuments to the community they serve, whose trust and support are key to this district's success.

The governing board of the William S. Hart Union High School District.

Dennis V. King, president

Gloria Mercado-Fortine, clerk

Patricia A. Hanrion

Philip C. Ellis Jr.

Steven M. Sturgeon