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Document 20 of 124.

December 26, 1998, Saturday ,City Edition

SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 1171 words

HEADLINE: Calif. gated enclave closed to school plan

BYLINE: By Lynda Gorov, Globe Staff

BODY:

COTO DE CAZA, Calif. - The four gates, secured by uniformed guards and monitored by cameras, serve their purpose. They keep out the world. They keep the grounds safe for residents to ride their horses, hone their golf games, and relax in the luxury of homes whose average price exceeded $600,000 last year.

Now the southern California enclave called Coto de Caza is under threat - from kindergartners, along with first-, second- and maybe even third-graders. Their parents say there is nowhere else to put them, since the new elementary school just beyond the gates is crammed past capacity.

But the proposal to open a K-3 school for 400 students within the isolated foothill development has pitted neighbor against neighbor and parents against empty-nesters. It has also raised questions about the legality of locating a public school behind private gates. The issue has become so contentious that the homeowners' association is putting it to a communitywide vote that could quash the deal.

"This would be a field day for civil rights lawyers," said Edward Blakely, a professor of urban planning at the University of Southern California and co-author of "Fortress America: Gated Communities in the United States." "A public school has to be public. So when I roll up to that gate, you have to open it. And once you're inside, they can't stop you from wandering around because that would be intimidation."

Opponents of a public school inside Coto de Caza - and they are a vocal group - said they fear a court could force the gates open permanently, costing the 5,000-acre Coto de Caza its status and security. Even Charles Ware, an executive with Lennar Communities, the developer that donated the land for the school, has concerns. "I don't think anyone knows if it's true or not that the gates could come down," he said.

Beyond the threat to their lifestyles, opponents said they fear for the students' safety since residents are known to ignore the speed limits because police cannot issue tickets on private property. They also worry about traffic congestion, especially increased traffic by people who would not normally have access to their streets, although thousands of guest passes are issued monthly to gardeners, housekeepers, and country club employees.

"Increased access is definitely a problem," said Le Ann Ricks, a resident working to block the school. "I had always dreamed that, as a little old lady, I'd be able to go out no matter the time of day and feel safe. I don't want that to change."

Supporters counter that there is no alternative to the overcrowding at nearby Wagon Wheel Elementary School, which was built for 720 students, opened with 800 in September 1997, and is expected to be have more than 1,300 next fall, many of them from Coto de Caza. Otherwise, they could be forced to bus the youngest of their school-age children elsewhere next year, as some of the older ones are now. And even the most ardent school supporters vowed to relocate the campus before allowing the gates to be dismantled.

"Little kids, and we're talking little kids, are not predators," said Jill Harmon, a mother of two elementary school-age daughters whose family moved to Coto de Caza 18 months ago. "Other communities are worried about robbers and burglars. Where are our priorities? It makes me think about what kind of place I'm living in and whether I want to be here at all."

Coto de Caza, with 10,000-plus residents in 5,200 condominiums, houses, villas, and estates, is widely considered the largest gated community in the country. East of Mission Viejo and about a 90-minute drive south of Los Angeles, it is also in one of the fastest growing regions.

Since becoming superintendent of the area's Capistrano Unified School District 7 1/2 years ago, James Fleming said he has seen the number of students double, to 42,500. Sixteen schools have been built. Still, more are needed. At Wagon Wheel, hundreds of students study in portable classrooms tucked behind the main building.

Opening a school - actually 20 portable classrooms and three support buildings - seemed an obvious solution to some parents and the school district. Under the deal brokered, the homeowners' association would swap 2.5 acres set aside as open space for an 8-acre parcel owned by Lennar, the master plan developer. The association would then lease the property, near a covered picnic area and sports park but away from any homes, to the school district for $1 a year. The proposed school could be put up faster and for far less money than it usually takes.

"I don't know what happened," Fleming said. "We thought it was a slam dunk before this brouhaha."

What happened, according to opponents, is that they were misled into believing a small "learning center" would be opened in Coto, local shorthand for the gated community. Only recently, they said, did they come to understand that the information in the homeowner association's quarterly newsletter referred to an actual, full-time school.

"It was presented as this quiet, rosy picture, and no one questioned it," said Karen Rose, who has lived in Coto for nine years. "We aren't antischool. We just really don't think the homework was done. There are legal ramifications to doing this, and there has got to be another way."

School supporters, however, said their research indicates the school would be legal. Already within Coto's gates, they noted, are a public fire station and a small private school whose parents have standard access cards. Again and again, they stressed that the students would be Coto children, able to walk to school. But there are no guarantees.

"Whether it's inside or outside the gates is irrelevant," said Lisa Metzger, an 11-year resident and PTA parent who helped spearhead the drive for a new school. "It's just where the land is. . . . And logic dictates that most if not all of the students will be Coto kids. We have more than enough kids to populate this school."

Added John Zarian, president of the CZ Master Association, the homeowners group, "A school in any gated community is going to be a hot button. But we felt we were doing a good deed."

Now, in a community where thousands turn out for the annual Fourth of July parade and Yule Log lighting ceremony, anger and arguments have supplanted holiday and community spirit. At one meeting, Harmon said, a school opponent called supporters "you tract people" - a reference to the newer, more clustered homes in Coto.

Regardless of the outcome of the March 3 vote, the genteel days of the 1960s, when Coto was a hunt club and Hollywood stars such as John Wayne and Charlton Heston came to ride horses on weekends, appear to be gone for good.

"We're talking about fighting against chalkboards and tot lots," said Harmon, whose 8-year-old daughter had to sit on a classroom floor at Wagon Wheel for more than a month until a desk could be found. "There's a degree of snobbery here that I never thought I'd see, not even in Coto."

GRAPHIC: PHOTO, 1. A new school in Coto de Caza, Calif., could alleviate crowded classes, such as Hollen Smith's fifth-grade group at nearby Wagon Wheel Elementary. / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER PHOTO / MICHAEL KITADA
2. Jill Harmon (center) with Lori Taylor and John Zarian, at the proposed site of a 400-student K-3 school in Coto de Caza, Calif. / ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER PHOTO / MICHAEL KITADA

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

LOAD-DATE: December 29, 1998