A new group has been formed to help purchase the former Sunnyside School property in Los Osos.
“It’s not often that a parcel that size, in the middle of town, comes to market,” said Ron Munds, Los Osos Community Services District General Manager.
Gary J. Freiberg is a longtime Los Osos resident and is very involved in various community groups.
He recently formed the group “Buy Sunnyside School,” a grassroots effort to raise money to purchase the 12-acre former Sunnyside School site.
“The primary bottom-line goal is to have a resource for the community for today and for future generations,” Freiberg said.
Sunnyside School closed in 2002 but is currently being leased out to CAL FIRE, a private school, and a preschool. The San Luis Coastal Unified School District (SLCUSD) is looking to sell the property.
With plans for the sale moving forward, Buy Sunnyside School’s first meeting took place last month.
“In that first meeting — 21 different organizations, about 25 people. It showed a large breadth of support for the CSD to purchase Sunnyside School,” Freiberg said.
His group is working with the CSD, which has already sent two letters of intent to SLCUSD.
"We are gathering all the information we need to move forward. Most of that is going to be actual cost to the CSD for improvements, ongoing maintenance, and acquisition,” Munds said.
Freiberg says fundraising won’t begin until the CSD has secured the site.
“Right now, the best thing that Buy Sunnyside can do is to prepare for a positive answer so that if the school district says 'yes, we will sell the property to you,' and 'yes, the operations and maintenance expenses balance out,' then we can put fundraising and pledge campaigns into effect,” Freiberg said.
The CSD’s general manager says they have until mid-August to come to an agreement with the school district.
The next town hall meeting for the Sunnyside site will be in July or early August.
“We have until the middle of August to come to some sort of agreement, but the school district has the opportunity to extend that period if they think we are making a good faith effort to move forward,” Munds said.
For more information on the Buy Sunnyside School group, click here.
