Sentinel staff report–
Should the 13-acre former Sylvan Middle School site be turned into residential housing? More retail? A dog park? Those are questions on a survey launched by a Citrus Heights neighborhood advocacy group, which plans to present the results to the Citrus Heights City Council.
The short, 10-question survey asks community members to respond to several yes-or-no questions about specific future uses, as well as a pair of open-ended questions which ask readers to share their own idea or other comments about what they’d like to see developed at the site.
Take the survey: click here.
Tom Scheeler, who serves on the board of the Residents’ Empowerment Association of Citrus Heights (REACH), spearheaded the effort and said he launched the survey earlier this month to gain feedback from community members on the future of what he called “a very significantly sized, prominently placed piece of property” at Sylvan Corners. The survey effort is supported by REACH and has been distributed to the various neighborhood associations in Citrus Heights.
Although REACH has not taken a position on what should be done with the property, Scheeler said the board supported his proposal to survey the community and present the results to the city council. He said results will likely be shared in March.
As previously reported on The Sentinel, the City of Citrus Heights has expressed interest in purchasing the old middle school property, with an intent to turn around and sell it in order to have a greater say in what its future use or uses will be. Although the city is not guaranteed to be the purchaser, the San Juan Unified School District board voted on a resolution in September that gave public agencies, like the City of Citrus Heights, a priority opportunity to purchase the property. The board also said that priority should be given to “multi-purpose uses.”
Asked for an update on the Sylvan property, Citrus Heights City Manager Chris Boyd told The Sentinel earlier this month that an update would likely not be available until the end of March or April.
The deadline to submit responses for the survey is Feb. 28, 2018. Those interested in taking the survey online can do so by clicking here.
