State gives OK for Alicia School demolition

Alicia Intermediate School in Linda — closed in 2008 and the victim of vandalism and fire since then — can be torn down, says a state agency that reviewed the site's status with Marysville Joint Unified School District officials.

"It would be a big relief to have that structure out of the way," Trustee Bernie Rechs said Thursday.

The decision by the state Office of Public School Construction still leaves the Marysville school district with a nearly $1 million cost to demolish the school on Pasado Road, Superintendent Gay Todd said.

School district officials last week cited the state's review of its facility hardship application for delaying demolition of the school. An Aug. 9 fire burned six classrooms.

"The building has to be standing in order for them to sign off that there is a hardship," Todd had said. "You lose your eligibility if you don't have a building there."

The hardship application could mean $6 million in funds toward the construction of a new school to replace Alicia, according to the district.

Todd noted Thursday the district is awaiting a letter from the state agency declaring Marysville Joint Unified can undertake the demolition.

Eric Lamoureux, spokesman for the West Sacramento-based office, said state representatives visited Alicia Intermediate in 2008.

Miscommunication led to Marysville Joint Unified's belief that the school's demolition has to await state review, Lamoureux added.

"If they need to take the building down, they're free to do that," he said. Lamoureux added that he didn't know where the miscommunication began.

Todd said it's possible the Alicia property could be sold to a buyer who would agree to demolish the buildings as part of the purchase.

Alicia opened in the 1940s and closed in 2008. Its students were sent to Yuba Gardens Intermediate in Olivehurst. A new school is planned to replace Alicia.

Marysville Joint Unified officials said an underground natural gas pipeline — within 1,500 feet of the school on Pasado Road and a Yuba County Airport runway within a half-mile — helped spur the school's closing.