Two closed elementary school sites in Huntington Beach are being eyed by the Ocean View School District for residential developments that would include multifamily workforce housing.
During the school board’s meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 13, the trustees agreed to the district entering into agreements with developers to evaluate turning the Pleasant View campus, 16692 Landau Lane, and the Sun View campus, 7721 Juliette Low Drive, into housing.
“We have a unique opportunity to transform our excess property into something that will truly benefit our communities,” board President Gina Clayton-Tarvin said in a statement. “We are exploring creative options that could provide affordable housing for our employees, allowing them to live in the communities where they work, while also creating beautiful green spaces and parks for residents to enjoy. This is an exciting opportunity to make a positive impact on our communities.”
The due diligence and exclusive negotiating agreements with Knighthall Capital and TAIT & Associates for the 10.6-acre Pleasant View site and with AMCAL Multi-Housing, Inc., for the 13.8-acre Sun View property allow the firms to exclusively evaluate and pursue joint-occupancy development concepts, district officials said in a press release.
The two potential projects could include workforce housing, green spaces, parking and community amenities, and could bring in about $1.5 million in revenue for the district, Clayton-Tarvin said.
The earliest a joint-occupancy development agreement would return to the school board for consideration is about 4 months, but the site evaluation timelines can be extended, district staff said in a report to the trustees. And Clayton-Tarvin noted that development isn’t a certainty. The board would have to approve any final decisions once the due diligence processes are finished.
According to the agreement reached for the Pleasant View property, a future residential community there is envisioned to include 152 homes and about four acres of soccer fields and open space. Clayton-Tarvin said at least 13% of those homes would be set aside for the district’s workforce.
The agreement for the Sun View property says the project could include soccer fields on about two of its 13.8 acres, but it does not specify the number of homes.
Clayton-Tarvin said the district’s approach to these properties is multi-faceted: support the workforce so they have the opportunity to live where they work, while also attracting young families from outside the district to bring their families into Ocean View schools to address declining enrollment.
According to the California Department of Education, 6,522 students were enrolled in Ocean View schools in the 2025-26 school year, the most recent data available. That’s more than 2,000 fewer students compared to the 2015-16 school year, according to state data.
“We know that Huntington Beach is sorely lacking housing that can accommodate families, young families, and what we’re really trying to do is make Huntington Beach affordable for our own employees,” Clayton-Tarvin said. “We want to make it very attractive for young families to be able to come in and live in the Ocean View School District.”
“Once (our employees) have a shot at getting a place, we’ll open it up to the general public as well. So this is something that can benefit the entire communities, not just a select few or government employees,” she said.
(Photo by Karen Tapia, Orange County Register/SCNG)
The two shuttered campuses have been in Ocean View’s portfolio for a long time, Clayton-Tarvin said. Pleasant View Elementary opened in 1980 and closed in 1985. Sun View Elementary School, which has been used as an interim campus from time to time, opened in 1980 and closed in 2018.
Despite not operating for several years — and in the case of Pleasant View, several decades — keeping the properties in the district’s portfolio has been a long-term strategy, Clayton-Tarvin said. The district has entered into ground lease agreements with private companies in the past for several of its properties, she said.
At the former Rancho View school site, on the corner of Beach Boulevard and Warner Avenue in Huntington Beach, the district entered into a ground lease with Lowe’s Home Improvement and other businesses, Clayton-Tarvin said. That school first opened in the 1960s and closed in the 1980s, she said. OVSD also entered into a ground lease with Walmart on another district-owned property, off Beach Boulevard and Talbert Avenue, she said.
“I’m one of those people that believes, when you have a piece of public property, it needs to stay in the public portfolio, so that those corporations are not solely benefiting off of the government’s back,” Clayton-Tarvin said. “If we want our kids and city to continue to thrive and grow, we’ve got to have the affordable housing for young families to move into and to be able to raise our families in Huntington Beach. That’s our goal.”
The two candidates for the Ocean View School District Area 5 seat running in the Nov. 3 general election offered differing views on the district beginning this process in questionnaire responses for the Orange County Register’s online voter guide.
David Clifford, director of business development and industry affairs for the trucking company Ventura Transfer Company, said it would not be an effective use of the district’s surplus property, nor would the projects address “the district’s core goal of providing better education.”
“Rather, it serves to provide more perks for a handful of select district employees,” Clifford said. “The district needs to invest in more continuing education, give support, and provide modern tools so teachers can succeed as educators.”
(Photo by Karen Tapia, Orange County Register/SCNG)
But Jennifer Rank, who is running for re-election for the District Area 5 seat on the school board, said creative uses for closed school sites like a housing development “may be part of the answer” to recruit and retain talented educators.
“If district land could support teacher housing, generate new revenue, and preserve green space, that is worth considering,” she said. “Recruiting great teachers matters. Keeping the great ones we already have matters just as much.”
Similar efforts have been pursued elsewhere in Southern California. In San Diego earlier this year, for example, the San Diego Unified school board took steps to open workforce housing on school sites, with the goal of providing subsidized housing for 10% of its workforce by the end of the decade. In January, the district announced that nearly 3,000 affordable housing units for educators were in the pipeline across six sites.
In August, Anaheim Union High School District received several redevelopment proposals for its vacant Hope School property that offer a mix of housing options, including workforce housing, and a healthcare or professional facility the school board is interested in including. District staff is distilling the proposals for the board and is expected to return with a short list.