SD High measure challenged in a lawsuit. 

Suit seeks to knock from ballot proposal to keep San Diego High in Balboa Park

An initiative headed for the November ballot that, if passed, would allow San Diego High School to stay in Balboa Park beyond 2024 should be scrapped, according to a lawsuit filed In Superior Court.

The San Diego City Council voted in June to put the Measure I before voters in the general election an effort to legalize school use for the 34 acres of Balboa Park that San Diego High has occupied for 134 years. Negotiated in 1974, the current lease expires in eight years.

Opponents of San Diego Unified’s efforts to stay put argue the district has sufficient bond funds to build outside the park. David Lundin, president of the Balboa Park Heritage group, filed the lawsuit to counter what he describes in the lawsuit as a “biased and argumentative” initiative.

“It is critical to understand that the Lease would have been an illegal sale or transfer of the dedicated Park Lands to be used for non-park uses in 1974, but for the district’s explicit promise to return the Lands to park use and full City ownership in 2024,” the lawsuit claims. “Neither the Court nor the City and its legal team would have approved the Lease without this critical provision.”

A retired attorney, Lundin alleges that the City Council failed to — among other things — follow public notice requirements when it first pitched the concept of Measure I in May before it voted on the initiative in June. He wants the measure stricken by the court before the San Diego Registrar of Voters is set to print November ballots on or around September 12.

The current city charter requires two-thirds voter approval for non-park uses, including schools, on dedicated parkland. A charter amendment only requires a simple majority to pass.

San Diego Unified has put on hold plans to spend $30 million on improvements to the school amid the leasing controversy. If the measure fails or is stricken from the ballot, the district could be required to demolish the school and return the land to the city for park use.