Time line

1961 -- Crest View school opened.

June 1991 -- Board of trustees for Ocean View School District approved

closing campus because of decline in student enrollment.

May 1992 -- Crest View officially declared surplus property for lease or

sale. At this time, a district committee began the process of looking for

developers and pursuing long-term lease options.

June 1992 -- Crest View closed.

February 1994 -- More than 20 developers submitted applications to build

on property.

July 1995 -- Negotiations for an exclusive lease with Home Depot. Home

Depot, through Developer Pacific Retail Partners, was the district’s

first choice.

December 1995-- Home Depot decides to build a store on property owned by

the Huntington Beach Union High School District, nixing the Ocean View

School District’s plan.

Supt. Jim Tarwater says at a Planning Commission meeting that the

district is not interested in having a “big box” built at the Crest View

site.

January 1996 -- Series of Ocean View School District open school board

meetings discussing Crest View site. Residents attend meetings to express

concerns about site during public comments session.

Tarwater meets with Crest View United leaders Marvin Josephson, Robert

Cronk and Debbie Josephson to hear their concerns.

April 1996 -- School board approves developer Arnel Retail Group.

October 1996 -- Agreement to lease Crest View site to Arnel signed by

both parties.

February 1997 -- Councilman Tom Harman presents potential Wal-Mart deal

to school district. Board of trustees begins discussing possible lease to

Wal-Mart

December 1998 -- City Council approves environmental report recommending

the project and rezones the site from public and semipublic uses such as

hospitals churches and schools to commercial.

April 1999 -- Council approves plans by Wal-Mart to open a

150,000-square-foot complex.

August 1999 -- Wal-Mart developer Arnel Retail Group files a lawsuit

challenging citizen-sponsored petition drive for Measure I, which would

rezone the area to residential.

September 1999 -- County registrar of voters verifies enough signatures

on petition to qualify for Measure I.

October 1999 -- Arnel agrees to hold off on lawsuit so residents can have

their say on measure.

January 2000 -- City Council told in closed session that Arnel may still

pursue lawsuit even if voters pass measure.

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