The Aromas/San Juan School District neglected to follow a state
requirement when it didn’t examine the potential archeological
impact of an athletic field project before it started construction
in late August, according to the state Office of Historic
Preservation.
Hollister – The Aromas/San Juan School District neglected to follow a state requirement when it didn’t examine the potential archeological impact of an athletic field project before it started construction in late August, according to the state Office of Historic Preservation.
The historic preservation office sent a letter this week informing the school district it should have performed an environmental review of the property before any construction began to meet compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act.
District officials say they are now doing the study of the fields to comply with state laws and ensure that no historic artifacts are destroyed during the field’s construction.
The project consists of two baseball fields and two soccer fields on the six-acre property.
“Now that we have the guidelines, we’re following the guidelines,” said district Superintendent Jackie Muñoz.
The district has hired a certified archeologist and is working with the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to do the review.
“The tribe is going to work with us to ensure that we protect any grave sites or any sensitive area,” Muñoz said.
The district began construction in late August on athletic fields next to San Juan School on The Alameda. The problem arose after a few community members contacted the school and local archeologists concerned that the land contained historic artifacts.
Muñoz said while officials now realize they should have examined the land’s historical properties prior to the project’s start, they have been working to make sure the construction would not disturb any artifacts.
“The district is dedicated to ensuring that we’re sensitive to the area around us and that we follow the laws of California,” Muñoz said.
The district halted the project when it was notified the fields were potentially on historically sensitive ground, said Joseph Reyes, the district’s manager of maintenance and operations.
“We’ve basically just halted the project and dotted our ‘I’s and crossed our ‘T’s,” Reyes said.
The archeological firm hired by the school is performing a study of the property to determine the environmental impacts of the project – historical and archeological – and whether they are significant.
The district should receive the report in about two to three weeks, Reyes said. At that time, the district will decide how to move forward.
This study is required of any agency – city, county or school district – if its project is subject to the California Environmental Quality Act. Michelle Messinger, a historian and CEQA coordinator with the Office of Historic Preservation, said that any project that would cause a physical change to the environment requires CEQA compliance.
Muñoz said the district had been unaware of this requirement.
“We’ve been working on this project for four or five years and have not been notified (about CEQA),” Muñoz said. “I’ve talked to many people from lots of different agencies and have not had this brought to our attention.”
After the initial study is done, the agency must prepare a document stating that the project will have no significant impacts, the project has been revised to avoid any impacts or it has to do an environmental impact report if there are significant impacts.
City Manager Jan McClintock said she’s confident the district can progress with the project once the study is completed.
“We think the school district should have no trouble with the CEQA review,” McClintock said. “It used to be a sugar beet field. Sugar beets are a root crop, which means you are going to be digging really deep to harvest. So we feel the disturbances to any artifacts would have been done a long, long time ago.”
McClintock said while the city had no say in the project, officials are excited about the fields’ construction.
“We think the project has a lot of merit – we love the project,” she said.
