A city park and self-storage facility are being proposed for the site of the former El Portal School at 2600 Moraga Road in San Pablo.
According to the proposal set to be reviewed at the city’s Planning Commission on Tuesday, the park would exist on 4.86 acres in the northern area of the property. The city is considering selling off the southern end of the property, just over 4 acres, for a proposed 124,620 square-foot self-storage facility that would feature three single story buildings and one three-story building.
“The City has been actively seeking a buyer for this vacant property since taking ownership from the West Contra Costa School Unified District on March 6, 2006,” according to city documents.
The city initially sought to attract housing developers to the site. However, mitigation measures required for a site with utility limitations and which also consists of two fault traces on the Hayward fault made the cost to construct housing prohibitive.
“Development with a self-storage facility allows for a largely unoccupied use that can be separated into multiple buildings and can be placed so as to avoid the two fault traces on the site,” the city said.
American Recess, which is applying to construct a self-storage facility at the site, “has conducted extensive geological studies for the site which note that setbacks of at least 25 feet would be required from both the Eastern and Western fault traces would be required for any occupiable structure,” the city said.
The project is set to be reviewed by the city’s Planning Commission on Tuesday. For more information, see the agenda materials here.
