Board OKs $45M land swap to move elementary school

Colton Joint Unified School District leaders have agreed to swap land that's home to a 69-year-old Bloomington elementary school for property nearby in a $45 million deal that will cover the cost of building a new elementary school in the unincorporated San Bernardino County town.

The district will operate Zimmerman Elementary School under a lease agreement with an Orange County developer until the new school is built.

Constructed in 1953 and last modernized eight years ago, Zimmerman serves about 560 students. The Linden Avenue school could ultimately be bordered by 2.7 million square feet of warehouses as proposed in the controversial Bloomington Business Park Specific Plan.

Howard Industrial Partners, the developer behind that plan, has agreed to swap land on Hermosa Avenue for the Zimmerman property.

“For years now,” Superintendent

Frank Miranda said at the outset of the June 30 board meeting, “Bloomington has been undergoing dramatic change with the growth of the logistics industry in the area and the increasing number of large developments that create noise, traffic and air pollution.

“Our challenge as a district is how to protect our students and staff from the worse of the impacts to the greatest extent possible and also provide them with school facilities in line with our vision for continuing to grow and improve as an organization and give our students the best advantages for a successful future.”

Attorney Terry Tao, with whom the district works with on such deals, likened the land swap and ultimate relocation of Zimmerman to a family moving away from problematic neighbors.

“You can start screaming at each other,” he said, “or you can move. You can move away from the problem and the district has the opportunity to do exactly that.”