MONROE — With time pressed to move forward with a voter-approved $88 million referendum, the School District of Monroe Board of Education is in a tight spot. In just over two weeks, the board is supposed to pay off its Bond of Anticipation Note (June 14).
While the referendum, which would build a new high school, passed in Nov. 2022, litigation by a group of citizens and two failed land acquisitions don’t have the district any closer in providing ample space for the 60-plus acre project. The current land the high school sits on is just 27 acres, with another 20 available in the surrounding district-owned lots.
At the May 22 school board meeting, more than two hours were dedicated to discussion of the conundrum and how to go about proceeding. The first property put forth was located along 31st Avenue on the cities far east side, nicknamed the B&S property. That location failed its special meeting of the electors, with about 150 district voters in attendance.
Nearly three months later, a second location was presented to the public, the Donny property, located on County DR, less than a mile from the city proper and across the street from the industrial park. With the commotion of litigation ongoing, more than 1,500 voters showed up to the special electors meeting and overwhelmingly turned the property down, almost 2:1 against.
While the 70-acre B&S property is no longer under contract, District Superintendent Rodney Figueroa said the owner has said they might honor the original agreement without raising their price, which was several million dollars cheaper than the Donny land, but with more improvements needed. Donny land is still under contract, though, meaning the board could bring it back for another attempt to pass to the voters. In order to gauge public opinion, the district is pairing with independent research firm School Perceptions to rush mail a survey to each household in the district. The district intends to lay out the costs for both properties to be compared, as well as a separate page with information on building on the current property. The hope is the survey can be finalized by the board and sent out within two weeks, with a full month likely needed to review the findings, which will include an area for comment.
When the 70-acre Donny property failed, interest rates were at their lowest, but have now risen all the way back up to that of 2022, costing the district nearly $2 million in earnings that could have gone to aiding in the inflationary costs of the project. Skipping the June 14 deadline for the bond anticipation note will cost the district another million dollars, and each month delayed could be just as costly. The survey then would whittle down the options to basically one new site or the current location, with likely one final land vote to take place.
Many of those opposed to building on a new site have listed unnecessary added cost for land purchase as a gripe, hoping the district would utilize its current campus to build anew. After meeting with bond expert Allison Buchanan of Quarles & Brady on May 24, it was reiterated to the board that staying on current property would not only be hard to do, but it would be all but impossible to save any of the current structure, including the two gymnasiums and Performing Arts Center.
The resolution for the referendum declared the $88 million would set aside a small amount of money to repair Abraham Lincoln Elementary School and build a new high school.
Because of the wording, no part of the referendum’s funds can go to repairing, renovating or connecting any part of the current structure to the new building. Meaning, if the district wanted to try and save some money by keeping the PAC and gyms, it would have to sit as its own structure for a time being. Either a capital campaign, community donation, or money from the general fund could go to adding HVAC and independent utility systems to the fractured building. There currently is no room in the general fund to take on such an endeavor. And once the $88 million is spent and construction is complete, a new, smaller referendum could be sought for the funds.
However, if the school is built on a new property, the entire building, or even just the PAC/gym portion could be saved from demolition should a community group or other buyer come along and desire it. However, that buyer would have to do the updates and upgrades themselves. The PAC itself needs hundreds of thousands of dollars in upgrades as the nearly 25-year-old equipment has reached the end of its shelf life, and parts to match are rare finds on the market. The two gyms do not have air conditioning, and the boys locker room to the main gym is not ADA compliant.
Another problem with building on the current property would be the general disorientation of the project. Because of the delay from litigation, the estimated start date to the project was pushed back from Fall 2023 to Spring 2024. Building on campus would mean tearing down the tennis courts, football and baseball fields for the new school. Once that building is built, the old structure would need to come down, and the eventual sports complex would come in afterwards, extending the entire project by almost half a year.
During those two years of construction, any utilizing those sports fields — physical education classes, football, tennis, baseball, track and field — would be unable to practice or play games on campus. Tennis would then have to utilize Rec Park, North East Park and Twining Park in order to stay in town, but the only other football field in the city is located at the YMCA, which has an upcoming capital project of its own in the works. There is no full-size baseball field in town that could be utilized, with all the other fields in town built for youth baseball or softball. That means the district would have to pay for transportation and renters fees to other districts in order to continue the programs, and that’s not even including the challenge of scheduling practices in a timely manner.
On a new property, however, the scheduling headaches, renting and transportation costs would not be needed, as one year the students would be in one school, and the next transfer over to the new facility without worry.
Building on a new property would allow the sports complex to be able to host practically all teams on campus, both junior varsity and varsity. Softball and tennis are played at city parks, and the JV baseball team utilizes the fenceless Abraham Lincoln field, which would be unavailable during construction. Soccer used to be played at Honey Creek Park, but over the past two years has been brought onto campus full-time. During construction, ideally the soccer teams could return to Honey Creek Park until the erection of the new field(s) at MHS.
The board and administration acknowledged that due to rising inflation, the scope of the project — both the building and sports complex — would be scaled back. Dan Chovanec of CG Schmidt gave suggestions including adjusting the exterior coverings and scaling back in the sports complex.
The difference between the basic costs of the projects would be between approximately $1.5 and $2.3 million, with the current location slightly cheaper. The B&S property would cost about $500,000 more than the Donny property, so about $2-2.8 million more than the current site.
The reason for the current property’s lower cost is because there would be less athletic facilities to account for (about $1.3 million in costs), and no land to purchase. However, that also doesn’t take into account the lost costs to sports transportation, rent and game revenue, nor does it take into consideration the potential selling of any district land or buildings to an interested buyer. The smaller 47 acres of the current property are also too small in case the district wanted to make additions to the building in the future, either due to a growth in population, or a decline. That scenerio would entail demolishing aging structures and centralizing multiple grade levels on the high school campus to better utilize space. The 70-plus acre properties would allow for future expansions.
The loss on the tax roll of the Donny property would impact the district by just about $300 a year in taxes, but parceling out land within the city borders to sell for real estate and residential development could bring in not only direct flow of revenue from real estate sales, but added homes to the tax base. A single new home built on the south side, at approximately the same tax assessed value as the neighborhood average, would be nearly $1,500 per year for the school district, or about five years of Donny property farm land tax revenue.
Figueroa said that there has been interest from real estate developers on potentially starting residential projects north of town by County DR in the future, too.