Despite the Seattle School Board voting last week to increase rental prices for buildings unused as schools any longer, the group leasing the Old Crown Hill Elementary School say they are not worried about the matter.

"By the time the lease prices go up, we expect to be the owners of the school," said Catherine Weatbrook, a member of the board of Small Faces, the primary lessor of the building at Holman Road Northwest and 14th Avenue Northwest for the past 25 years.

Last week, the School Board approved a new version of the "Procedure for Sales and Rentals of Closed School Facilities and Other Real Property."

Ron English, property manager and deputy general counsel for the district, said the procedure has been rewritten through two years of discussions and drafts.

"The 'full market value' test remains," English told the school board. "Any discount or subsidy will be applied only to organizations that use the facility for youth education."

Previously, the school board reduced rent 50 percent for seven organizations that promoted youth and family activities. The revision, recommended by the school board finance committee, focuses more narrowly on education and does not limit the number of organization that can get the discount.

In addition, the rent was reduced for an entire facility. Now only subtenants providing youth education will get the reduction.

The text of the proposal lists qualifying activities as "before and after school programs; preschool, child care, and infant care; tutoring, reading, and other supplemental education; dance, art, and sports programs directed to children; and similar activities directed to enhance and enrich childhood experiences."

Other tenants would pay rent equal to full market value.

"We don't want third parties going against the wishes of Washington State law, limiting where the dollars go," Sundquist said.

An increase in rent would not begin for a year, and would be phased in over four more.

English said the school district would compare the financial advantages between selling a surplus property and keeping it to lease.

If a surplus property may be sold, the school district would offer it first to current tenants, and preferentially to educational organizations and community groups local to the property.

"What hasn't changed," English said, "is the community involvement process. The neighborhood will be involved, although the neighborhood near the property, not the city at large."

The Legislature has allotted $4.6 million in the recently approved biennial budget to help community groups purchase their buildings. "The Community Schools Act of 2008" would make available through a competitive grant process, funds for the development of community schools and to convert empty school buildings into community facilities.

The Small Faces Child Development Center is currently working with the Cascade Land Conservancy and the National Development Council on developing a purchasing plan.

The district has appraised the 3.4-acre lot at roughly $7.5 million.

Also, $1 million is already designated through the Pro-Parks Levy to create a park there, which could be matched by King County's public land trust program.

The center's 10-year lease is scheduled to expire this May, but Weatbrook said the intent is to have a purchase agreement with the district in place by then.

Small Faces currently pays $137,000 in annual rental income.

Weatbrook has said Small Faces questions the appraisal amount generated by the district and is having it evaluated. Some parts of the site are "unbuildable" while the district's evaluation considered its full development potential, she said.

Jack Mayne can be reached at jmayne@robinsonnews.com or 369.6328. Matthew E. Miller and Rebekah Schilperoort contributed to this report.