Ben Lomond’s Alba Schoolhouse delisted as historic landmark, but rebuilding efforts continue

This week, a county commission delisted the Ben Lomond Alba Schoolhouse from its historic landmark inventory, but that’s not stopping a local group’s efforts to rebuild it after the schoolhouse was destroyed in the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex fire. 

Daniel DeLong, a longtime advocate for the schoolhouse, said the Alba Recreation and Parks District’s ultimate goal is to rebuild the schoolhouse, but in the meantime, it’s preparing to revive the property as a park. 

“If the schoolhouse gets rebuilt in my lifetime, I’ll be batting 1.000,” said DeLong, at almost 60 years old. “It’s going to take some time and effort. But there’s a core group of people, putting in all this time and energy for the love of something that was really beautiful. We’re not willing to let it die.” 

The Santa Cruz County Historic Resources Commission delisted the schoolhouse because it no longer exists. The county regularly updates its inventory, adding and removing locations. During the Monday morning meeting, the commission removed two additional locations that also no longer exist, like the SeaBreeze Tavern in Rio Del Mar, and a fourth location that has been renovated to the extent that it no longer retains its architectural and historical integrity.

Barry Pearlman said he and his fellow commissioners were sad to delist Alba Schoolhouse because of its importance to the community. But to keep the inventory accurate, they had to remove it. 

“When they’re not there, they’re not there,” he said. “You can’t honor something that’s not there.”

Pearlman said the delisting didn’t happen sooner because it wasn’t clear if or when the rebuild was going to happen. He added that delisting the property won’t affect any future effort to rebuild.

During its 125 years in existence, the schoolhouse first served as a school, then a library and most recently as a community center. The Alba Recreation and Parks District, which receives no funding and is run by volunteers, manages the schoolhouse property. The parks district became the new owners of the property in July 2024 after the San Lorenzo Valley Unified School District donated it. The half-acre property is located at 12070 Alba Rd. in Ben Lomond. 

Today, the mostly vacant lot has a new flagpole and a little free library on it. The flagpole has three flags: the American flag, the California flag and the Santa Cruz County flag. 

The school district initially planned to rebuild the schoolhouse, but reversed course once it learned that its insurance carrier would provide a net payout of $900,000 if it chose not to rebuild. The insurance carrier offered the district at least $575,000 to rebuild, but that left about $250,000 in construction costs that wouldn’t have been covered under the district’s policy. The district said those costs weren’t related to student programs, so it decided against rebuilding. 

When the school district was considering the rebuild, Alba Road community members like DeLong formed a nonprofit in 2021 called Friends of the Alba Schoolhouse to fundraise for the project. As of today, the nonprofit has raised about $20,000 and the Alba parks district has raised another $20,000. 

DeLong said it will take years of fundraising, planning and construction before the schoolhouse is restored. He doesn’t have a cost estimate or a time frame, but threw out a cost of about $1 million. In the meantime, the parks district and the nonprofit’s directors are working toward making the property a park again so community members can use the space for events and recreational activities. 

He added the district is in the process of potentially expanding the park by acquiring a quarter-acre of an adjacent property to add to the existing half-acre and hopes to install amenities like picnic tables, a bathroom, parking spaces, a boundary fence, small playground and gazebo. DeLong said the goal is to start building some of the infrastructure starting next summer “and having it set up to where it’s literally a little park.” 

The money for those amenities comes from a grant of up to $177,952 awarded to the district through Proposition 68, which funds parks, environmental projects and water infrastructure projects. 

The parks district was awarded the grant in 2020. At that time, the school district still owned the property and was considering rebuilding. 

Initially, DeLong said, the funds would have been used to pay for parts of the rebuilding not covered through insurance. But after the school district decided not to rebuild, the parks district later chose to use the funds to revive the property as a park for the community. 

The funds won’t go toward rebuilding the schoolhouse, and the award amount must be spent by the end of 2026. 

The parks district, DeLong said, is likely the smallest parks and recreation district in the state, serving about 200 people within its boundaries. 

“The key now is just to keep the momentum,” said DeLong. “Because it’s been over five years since we lost it.” 

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.