POWAY, Calif. (KGTV) — A 27-acre parcel in Black Mountain Ranch once planned to be the site of a new middle school could instead turn into a Costco development.
The Poway Unified School District board voted 4-0 on Thursday to pursue a long-term lease with Costco to transform the site into a mixed-use retail, restaurant, and housing complex, plus a warehouse.
The district has twice declared the property at the northeast corner of Camino del Sur and Carmel Valley Road as surplus: first in 2012, and then reaffirmed in 2019.
"This site has an extremely lucrative opportunity for the district and I, for one, don't see how we can turn this down," said board president Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff. "Let Costco go figure out what the community will accept."
The move, however, is being met with concern from parents in the district.
Chasmine Grismer, a district parent who has lived near the Black Mountain Ranch site for a decade, expressed concern over traffic, the environment, wildfire evacuation, and demand on schools.
"By bringing in an apartment complex, you're going to be bringing in families, families with children, who again will need space in schools. Our schools are already impacted," she said.
A spokesman for Costco declined to comment, saying the company does not address upcoming real-estate transactions.
