Brandon Twp.-Following a half-hour closed session at Monday’s school board meeting, board president Greg Allar said that a 170-acre parcel is under consideration for purchase by the district.
‘The district will pursue the private property with due diligence,? said Allar. ‘The property is within boundaries of the school district. There will be further meetings on the possible purchase.?
Allar said funding for the purchase would come from the bond extension funds.
‘There is a line-item for school land acquisition’bond dollars are the only way the district could afford the property.?
No further details regarding the property were available at presstime.
The property purchase would be the fourth in the last two years for the district:
n In April 2007, the school board OK’d the purchase of a 75-acre parcel north of Oakwood Road, east of Hadley Road, for the construction of a new elementary school. At a cost of $850,000, the purchase also included a 2-and-a-half acre parcel along Oakwood Road for access to the school. School officials say the new Oakwood Elementary School will open in April 2009.
n In December 2006 board members OK’d the purchase of 23 acres, valued at $500,000, just north of Leece Road along Oakwood Road for the construction of a new elementary school. To date no development of the property has been made.
n In November 2006, about a week after Brandon Township officials inked a $1.995 million deal for 66.1 acres of property just south of the high school, the school board OK’d the purchase of 16.03 of those acres for a parking lot and buffer from possible township development.
The purchase, at a cost of $410,500, opened up about 29 acres of land just southeast of the high school that was previously landlocked due to other developments, say school officials.