Roger Barnes, business administrator for the Santa Clara Unified School District, presented the district's "white paper," an outline of the issues, rumors and potential uses for the open space, to Sunnyvale's city council on March 8.

When the district changed the site from a high school to a middle school campus in 1981, it no longer needed the school's entire field. Since then, the district has maintained the field and allowed it to be used by city and community groups and leagues for a plethora of recreational uses.

But with growing complaints from neighbors about loud events and trash left by teams and a need to cut back on maintenance and landscaping budgets to meet current economic demands, the district is looking for other uses for the field.

"This land could be used for cornfields or condos," Barnes told the council.

Barnes addressed the rumors that have circulated about the property. An anonymous flier was distributed last year through the surrounding neighborhood stating--among other things--that the district planned to turn the space into high-density private housing.

But after using his "cornfields" analogy, Barnes added that he didn't think condos would fly in the neighborhood. For the field to even get to the stage where private developers can bid on it, the district must run through a gamut of community groups and other agencies who have priority on this kind of land.

The district's first step was to make sure that its original use was never going to come up again. "We have to be sure that we're not going to need that land for a high school in the next 10 or 20 years," Barnes said. "We did a demographic study of the area and found that we don't need a high school south of [Highway] 101."

Once a new use is deemed appropriate for the land, the first groups who may acquire it are the Sunnyvale Department of Parks and Recreation and the Santa Clara County Sports Authority. Both groups would be able to maintain the land as educational space for Sunnyvale.

If both groups pass on the land, it is then offered for low-income housing. If that option is not taken, agencies such as the University of California and The California State University systems can look at the land. Finally, other nonprofit groups and state and federal agencies can acquire the land. If those groups pass on the property, then the district will make it available to private bidders.

Barnes said that because the field is district land, the Sunnyvale city government only has a say in the property's use when it comes to permits and zoning.

The district is also required to set up an advisory committee to assist them with collecting and prioritizing community interests.

The advisory committee will also decide how much of the land--if any--is deemed "surplus" and can be offered up as such.

The committee will include two representatives from Birdland and Raynor community organizations, the principal of Peterson Middle School, an expert in land-use and development, a district teacher, a business leader from the area, someone from the city with experience in land use and housing issues, a retired district administrator with knowledge of surplus land and two parents from within the district. Barnes will also sit on the committee as the business administrator for the district.

Barnes told the council that the total timeline could be as long as 29 months. He estimated it would take one to two months to appoint the advisory committee and then about five to six months for it to do its work.

The offers to public agencies could take up to nine months, and if none of those offers are accepted, it could take another three months to get bids from private developers and then up to a year to acquire proper zoning and permits for any projects.

The district is now waiting for its board of supervisors and the city council to approve the white paper plan so it can appoint an advisory committee and begin looking at the field's future.