Turf war in Fresno foothills pits small school district against powerful developer | Opinion

In the foothills near Millerton Lake, a turf war has broken out. One that pits a small school district with an abundance of pride but shrinking enrollment against the grand poo-bah of Fresno developers, and whose outcome will be determined by an obscure county committee.

Is local democracy rich in storyline or what?

The latest skirmish — involving the proposed transfer of Ventana Hills, a gated community of million-plus-dollar homes 10 miles north of Clovis, as well as 430 nearby acres of potential future development from the Sierra Unified School District to Clovis Unified School District — occurred Tuesday evening.

Just like earlier this month, foothill residents turned out en masse at the second of two legally mandated public hearings to visibly and verbally support Sierra Unified's case before the Fresno County Committee on School District Organization.

The transfer petition should be declined, district officials and residents told committee members, because it's a thinly veiled attempt by Ventana Hills residents and developer Granville Homes to drive up property values and sales that would have a crippling effect on their growth and curriculum.

"Please do not deprive our district of its ability to maintain and expand offerings, merely to benefit a developer's interest and his pocketbook," Sierra Unified board president Cortney Burke testified.

That's an inaccurate depiction, insisted Granville Homes CEO Darius Assemi. This is all about preserving parental rights.

"These homeowners want to have freedom of choice to send their kids to whichever school district they believe is best for their kids," Assemi retorted.

Sprawling but sparse district

Sierra Unified is a sprawling but sparse school district that encompasses both foothill and mountain communities. It includes one elementary school, one middle school and one high school that is also fed by students from the even smaller Pine Ridge and Big Creek districts.

Total enrollment is roughly 1,270 – a number that stood at 2,700 in the late 1990s but has since dwindled largely due to the formation of school districts and school construction in Madera County. Transfers to Clovis Unified, Sierra Unified's more-renowned and better-resourced neighbor, haven't helped.

As currently drawn, the boundaries separating Clovis Unified and Sierra Unified bisect the residential area known as Millerton New Town.

Tracts south of Millerton Road, built by Bonadelle Neighborhoods and Granville Homes, are on the Clovis Unified side. The district has also a future elementary school site picked out, though Clovis Unified officials (who are taking a neutral stance on the territory transfer) stressed there are no existing plans to build.

The Sierra Unified side contains Ventana Hills, a cluster of "semi custom estate homes" located off Auberry Road.

On his petition for the territory change, Ventana Hills resident Marc Thurston cited "substantial community identity" and "student safety and access to cocurricular activities" as the primary reasons.

During presentations and in media interviews, Thurston has depicted Ventana Hills, with its manicured landscaping and curbs and gutters, as more of a suburban neighborhood than a typical foothill or mountain community.

"It's not like we have horses or farm-type animals, (or) ride motorcycles or anything through our area," Thurston told Fresnoland's Julianna Moreno, who has thoroughly chronicled the story. "We are more like what you'd find on a golf course."

Numerous prior attempts

About 10 school-aged children currently live in Ventana Hills. Included in that group is Thurston's own daughter, a private-schooled eighth grader whom he wishes to send to a Clovis Unified high school rather than take her "up the hill" to Sierra High.

"Everything we do is down in Clovis and Fresno," he said. "My wife's job is down there. My daughter, all of her after-school activities are down there."

A real estate broker who bills himself as "Bakersfield's go-to expert for multifamily real-estate investment," Thurston purchased his Ventana Hills home in February 2022, according to property records.

Since then Thurston has filed four petitions for territory transfers with the Fresno County Office of Education. (The previous three were rejected by Fresno County schools superintendent Michele Cantwell-Copher for legal insufficiency.)

Even before Thurston moved in, numerous attempts were made to shift school district boundaries for Ventana Hills and nearby properties. Including one filed in 2018 filed by former Granville Homes executive Jeff Roberts, a developer who served federal prison time for his involvement in Operation Rezone.

The play for Assemi, who is openly backing Thurston's petition, is obvious. Ventana Hills remains partially developed. The added cachet of Clovis Unified could help kick off the next phase of construction while increasing property values of homes that already exist.

And if the territory transfer also includes 400-plus acres of undeveloped land nearby, some with residential street maps already on file with the county, so much the better.

Unfortunately for Fresno's most influential home-builder, it isn't the Fresno City Council that needs convincing . The petition's merits will be determined by the Fresno County Committee on School District Organization , whose 11 members are current and former school board members from across the county with little need for Assemi's campaign contributions.

Committee bound by Ed Code

For the county committee to approve the transfer petition, members must determine that nine defined criteria established by the California Education Code are "substantially met."

One of those criteria states, in part, that the proposed boundary change "will not significantly disrupt the educational programs in the affected districts." Another states the transfer must be "designed for purposes other than to significantly increase property values."

A presentation made to the committee on behalf of Central Unified by Shin Green of Eastshore Consulting valued the 652 acres under consideration at roughly $38 million, or $1 million in bonding capacity. (The district has a $24 million bond on the November ballot .)

But if and when the land is fully developed, the potential tax base lost to Central Unified would be several times that amount. Which, district officials argued, could result in even deeper cuts to their curriculum and staffing.

"The loss of even 30 students represents one full-time equivalent (teacher)," Superintendent Lori Grace said. "That could mean the end of our visual arts program."

The major flaw in the petitioner's argument – besides the simple fact that Thurston should have moved inside the Clovis Unified boundaries if he wanted his kids to attend Clovis schools – is that he and other Ventana Hills residents could simply request an interdistrict transfer.

Such transfers are common, even if it's a bit of a hassle to renew them every year. There's no need to transfer the entire development to Clovis Unified, plus the 430 acres of prime undeveloped land nearby.

That simple fact sort of gives away the game, does it not?

The county committee has until early January, at the earliest, to render a decision. Members shouldn't need nearly that long to send this obvious ploy packing.