Developers fire back at the school district that sued over Salinas’ future growth area.

In January, the Santa Rita Union School District and the Salinas Union High School District sued the city of Salinas, a local builder and a trio of property owners, alleging the city’s plans to develop more than 4,000 homes in its future growth area will flood schools already bursting at the seams while offering no solution to fund more schools to meet the new demand.

And now the builder and property owners have fired back, suing the Santa Rita district. In the suit, filed Sept. 14 in Monterey County Superior Court, developer Ray Harrod Jr. and the West Area Specific Plan Group claim that Santa Rita’s ask – that the development team abide by a new set of school facilities fees the board adopted in June that would have them pay $6.10 per square foot for new residential construction – exceeded the board’s authority and should be invalidated.

At the heart of the suit is Salinas’ West Area Specific Plan, the growth area annexed into the city in 2008. The plan, which will see phased development of 4,340 housing units meant to house up to 15,928 residents when complete, was approved by the Salinas City Council last December. Of those new residents, about 2,000 are expected to be students, in a number that “would exceed the expected capacity of two new elementary schools and one new middle school,” the lawsuit filed by Santa Rita states. The area is served by Rancho San Juan High School of the Salinas Union High School District.

About a third of school facilities financing comes from developer fees as authorized by Education Code, which may be imposed in connection with planning or development of real property. But developer fees most often don’t cover impacts caused by development because the statutory fee amounts don’t account for differences in school construction costs from one district to another.

Attorneys representing both parties did not respond to requests for comment. Harrod’s suit is scheduled for its first court hearing Jan. 19. Santa Rita’s suit will next be in court Oct. 20.