An effort to keep the long-shuttered Pacific View Elementary School property in public hands debuted online Feb. 13.

The website, www.savepacificview.org, was launched by Leucadia resident Scott Chatfield, who led a similar online effort in 2008 that resulted in the preservation of the 760 area code in North County. The latest effort comes on the heels of the Encinitas City Council’s decision Feb. 12 not to pursue bidding on the school property in an auction scheduled for March.

Chatfield said he was already getting responses from residents soon after the site’s evening launch.

“Just launched tonight, so far a couple of dozen emails,” he told the North Coast Current via email.

The Encinitas Union School district closed the Pacific View campus, located at 608 Third Street in Encinitas, more than a decade ago. The site has fallen into disrepair since the closure. The historic Encinitas schoolhouse, run as a museum by the Encinitas Historical Society, is located on the property. On-again, off-again discussions about the property’s future between the district and the city, as well as the Art Pulse organization, fell through in the past couple of years.

“A lot of people obviously feel pretty passionately about it,” Chatfield said of residents’ concerns about the school site’s future.

The website provides a form that residents can fill out to express their support of keeping the site in public hands for community use.

A similar effort in Del Mar in 2006, through the website www.delmarshores.org, sought to preserve the Del Mar Shores school site. The site now houses a city park and private school.