Much of the past year has been a public relations battle with the school's neighbors, who believe the district is making behind-the-scenes plans to turn the grassy fields into private homes.

Some of this speculation was fueled by a series of leaflets anonymously distributed to residents' doorsteps.

Over the years, the district, Sunnyvale residents and visitors have used the Peterson fields--located at Dunford Way and Norman Drive--for physical education classes, adult soccer leagues, cricket games, St. Lawrence Academy athletics and Pop Warner football. And the school's neighbors use the fields for exercise, picnics and "pick-up" sports games.

On May 24, the district's Peterson Field Advisory Committee held its first public meeting.

Judging by the number of chairs set up in the middle school's cafeteria, the committee expected less than 100 residents to show up. What it got that evening were some 175 residents--many of them angry.

Some residents criticized the committee for not advertising the meeting better, accusing the committee of trying to "ram" the redevelopment through the city without giving the community a chance to speak.

District business administrator Roger Barnes said the district advertised the meeting by posting a notice on its website and by asking the city to notify nearby neighborhood associations. He asked the standing-room-only crowd for help in setting up a better communications network, and one woman responded by saying it was not the neighborhoods' responsibility to organize themselves for a meeting with the district.

The meeting got even hotter with a near-shouting match between the Birdland and Raynor Park neighborhood groups over which one would be affected more by what happened to the land.

The majority of residents, however, shared one common fear, that the Peterson fields will be sold to private developers for housing.

Barnes has maintained throughout the year that private development is the last option the district can legally entertain.

The fields are considered surplus because the middle school only needs nine to 10 of its 25 acres of open fields for school use.

The district bought the property in 1961 for $12,500 an acre. Today, it's worth almost $3 million an acre.

Barnes says the district first began talking about what to do with the fields after receiving a series of complaints from neighbors about adult soccer leagues. Players were allegedly seen drinking alcohol, urinating in public and causing general disturbances.

Ironically, many of the same neighbors protesting new uses for the field were the neighbors who complained previously about the adult soccer games.

The fields currently cost the district at least $200,000 a year to maintain, with an additional $60,000 for scheduling for use and cleanup.

For a school district that has had to cut $3.5 million from its budget this year, upkeep on land the district doesn't use has become a questionable expense.

"You've got to ask yourself why you're spending $200,000 to maintain a field for a few neighbors when you could be spending that money maintaining a school for education," Barnes says.

He says the district is only considering selling five to seven of the 25 acres. The school would keep 10 of the remaining acres for school use, and the remaining land--though owned by the district--would be available for public use.

Some of the residents at the May 24 meeting were satisfied by that compromise.

Laura Richardson, a 19-year Sunnyvale resident who has two children in the district, says, "I want to do whatever will benefit the kids in this district. If that means selling part of the field, then I'm for it. I just want to make sure that the benefit goes to the students."

By law, the money from any land sale cannot be used for the district's operational costs, such as teacher salaries. It can only be used for capital projects, including new buildings, renovation of old ones and the purchase of computers and other technology.

Barnes says if any land is sold for any purpose, a portion of the money would be used to renovate the remaining fields.

The district set up the advisory committee to discuss potential uses for the land, explore district needs and community wishes and ultimately to advise the district on an action.

The committee includes residents from the Birdland neighborhood, school district teachers and administrators, a local business owner and parents and residents with experience in land development issues.

From the start, the committee and the district has had to fight rumors and "not-in-my-backyard" arguments.

Residents first learned of the district's intention to do something with the land more than a year ago when an anonymous flier turned up on their doorsteps alerting neighbors to a study session between the district and the city council. The flier stated that the school district was selling the land for housing.

On March 8, Barnes and the committee presented the Sunnyvale City Council and the public with a "white paper," a 20-page outline of the field's assets, uses and expenses. The paper addressed the rumors circulating and outlined the state-mandated process the district must go through to sell the land.

A second flier distributed before the May 24 meeting had a link to the website www.likroper.com, which is run by a Sunnyvale man who attended the meeting. That flier warned that the district was considering changing the land to housing, and it stated that the district's first meeting with the council had been a "secret" one. That meeting--a year ago--was a regularly scheduled study session before a city council meeting that was open to the public and was well-attended.

While selling the land to a private developer is one of many options the district is considering, the final decision is a long way off and will be made only after the district has taken all options for the land through five stages.

The district must first decide if the land is surplus. If the district decides the land is needed for a future school site or school use, the redevelopment issue would simply die.

Barnes says this is unlikely because no studies have indicated a need for a larger school in the Peterson area.

"We've been working on this project for two or three years now," Barnes said. "There's absolutely no way that we're ever going to need that land."

Although it is unlikely the field will be left untouched, that's just what many attending the May 24 meeting wanted.

"I empathize with the school and the school board because I know it's hard to balance a budget, but I think we need to look at other options other than sale because once that open space is gone, it's gone for good," says Angelique Reiss, who has lived near the school for more than two years.

Reiss lives a block from the property and takes her 2-year-old son for a walk there every night with her husband. She says they moved into the area because of the open space.

"When you fly into Silicon Valley by plane and you look down, you see a big green spot, and it's this field; it's right here," she says.

If the district decides the land is surplus, it must first be offered to the city of Sunnyvale Department of Parks and Recreation, the Santa Clara County Sports Authority and the county of Santa Clara.

These agencies may buy the land at a slight discount. Thirty percent of the land would be available to those agencies at the original cost of $12,500 an acre plus cost-of-living increases, and the remaining 70 percent would be sold to them at fair market value.

If none of those entities want to buy the land, the district moves to stage two and offers the land to low-income housing, Santa Clara County Parks and Recreation and the State Resource Agency.

If those groups pass, the district moves to stage three and opens the offer to state groups, including the regents of the University of California system, the trustees of the California State University System, Santa Clara County, the Public Housing Authority and the Sunnyvale Redevelopment Agency.

If there are no takers during stage three, the district's fourth stage is three weeks of advertising in local newspapers to state and federal agencies and charitable nonprofit organizations.

If there is no response, the land can be sold to private groups through a competitive bidding process. If a successful bidder is found, the bidder must go through the normal city process for development, which includes application for a general plan amendment and an application for rezoning and redevelopment.

The entire process, from the surplus decision to the beginning of future development would take a minimum of two and a half years.

"I doubt we're going to do anything with commercial real estate on that property. That wouldn't make sense to anyone," Barnes says.

But Richardson--who lives two houses away from the school--said she thinks the land will end up going to private use because the same budget problems that have hit the school have hit city, state and federal groups.

"The land is out of everyone's price range," she said.

Along those lines, there were accusations at the meeting that the city was trying to help the district sell the land to get tax revenue from housing sales.

Sunnyvale planning officer Trudi Ryan, representing director of Community Development Robert Paternoster at the meeting, attempted to dispel that concern by saying housing sales do not represent extra money for the city because the services provided to residents of those new houses typically cost more than the taxes gained.

Barnes is more optimistic about the land's use.

"We're hoping someone comes up with a good compromise that allows us to keep this space as open space," he said after the meeting.

He says the ideal use would save the school district from paying for the upkeep of the land, prevent objectionable uses that anger neighbors and preserve the space for future use, but he doesn't think that's possible.

He says he thinks there can be a compromise if both sides agree to sacrifice some, but that compromise still has to be found.

Because of the sheer number of ideas presented at the May 24 meeting, Barnes said a third meeting may be necessary so the committee could present its recommendation to the public before giving it to the school district.

The next public meeting on the Peterson land is scheduled for 7 p.m., June 15 in the Laurelwood Elementary School cafeteria.