Brandon Twp.- Two parcels of school district-owned property are back on the market.
The school board approved at their Jan. 19 meeting placing the property they own at 330 Sherman Court in the village of Ortonville up for sale, as well as a parcel located off Oakwood Road near Leece Road.
The Sherman Court parcel is 2.4 acres and is priced at $149,900. The vacant land was formerly home of the Sherman Lifelong Learning Center, but the 50-year-old building was demolished in November 2013 at a cost to the district of $47,027. Prior to the demolition, the district had asbestos abatement done to the building at a cost of $28,000. The facility had been vacant for a few years after Oakwood Elementary School was built and the alternative high school and district preschool classes were moved from the Sherman building to the former H.T. Burt Elementary.
The district attempted to sell the property with the Sherman building still on it, but multiple deals fell through, some due to a lack of sewers in the village. The property is located on a residential street. An offer to buy the property and use it for a proposed charter school was declined by the district, with former Superintendent Lorrie McMahon citing the building as unsafe for children.
The property for sale on Oakwood was purchased by the district for about $430,000, using a portion of the $73.4 million bond passed by voters in 2006. The land was bought with the intention of possibly building a new elementary school there, but the idea was scrapped due to the parcel’s access location near a curve and concerns about safety.
The 23.4 acres has an easement on Leece Road and the north end of the property fronts a pond that takes up about 4 acres of the parcel in total, said Chris Collier, agent for Keller-Williams which has listed both properties. The Oakwood parcel’s price is $239,900.
Superintendent Matt Outlaw said the district is in no rush to sell the property and will wait for good offers. Proceeds from the sale of the properties is not needed for the yearly budget, but will be slated to be used for capital projects, chiefly, a wastewater treatment plan for the district.
The Department of Environmental Quality has mandated that the district address long-standing wastewater treatment problems by November 2019.
The Village of Ortonville passed a resolution last month requesting assistance from the county in obtaining ‘sewage disposal system improvements to serve the residents of the village.?
If the village takes action this year to bring a wastewater treatment system here, the school district would be able to tie in to the larger system. While there would be cost to the district, it would be much less than if the district has to redo its own wastewater treatment plant. Outlaw notes that if the district must go it alone, the cost will be an estimated $2.1 million for the main treatment plant by the high school and middle school and a separate treatment plant for the intermediate school will cost approximately a quarter of a million dollars.
For more information on the district properties for sale, call Chris Collier, 248-802-4471.