Post by wvhsparent on Nov 6, 2006 8:10:46 GMT -6
Hearing to begin on District 204's bid to buy Brach-Brodie property
By Sara Hooker
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Monday, November 06, 2006
A DuPage County judge is scheduled to begin hearing testimony today to determine whether Indian Prairie Unit District 204 has bargained in good faith to obtain the land it needs to build a 3,000-student high school in Aurora.
By week’s end, district officials may have a better idea of what the future holds for the Brach-Brodie property off Route 59 near 75th Street and Commons Drive.
The district already owns 25 acres at the site and filed a condemnation suit last December for the remaining 55 acres it wants to build the proposed high school campus on.
Officials said the school is needed to ease the strain of growing enrollment at Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools.
“(On Monday) we’ll present our side first and then the Brach-Brodie (attorneys present),” Superintendent Howard Crouse said. “Largely it’s going back over information contained in depositions and exhibits that were previously filed so the judge gets to hear it firsthand.”
The outcome of this week’s hearing is important because officials have said the $124.7æmillion budget for the new school — approved in March by taxpayers in portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield — is contingent on a spring construction start date.
Any delays in that date could increase the cost of the project.
The land in question was owned by the late Brach brothers of Brach Candy fame and was passed on to their wives, Helen Vorhees Brach and Hazel S. (Brach) Brodie, also deceased.
Attorneys for the Brodie trust have said the district’s offer of $257,500 per acre was not a good faith effort and is roughly half the market value.
The district said its proposal is a fair offer and similar to what other property has sold for in the area.
The district’s lawyers have called the motion to dismiss “procedural stalling.”
A judge has denied the district’s requests for access to the land to take soil samples and make other assessments.
The district plans to ask state lawmakers this month for “quick take” powers to gain faster access to the property without having to wait for the results of the condemnation proceedings.
They said such powers would level the playing field in negotiations and prevent the Brach-Brodie attorneys from stalling to drive up the price.
District 204 officials won’t say if there’s a contingency plan should the judge dismiss the case or what will happen if they don’t have access to the property in the spring.
“We’re going into this expecting to win,” Crouse said.
shooker@dailyherald.com
Land: Project price contingent on spring start date
By Sara Hooker
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Monday, November 06, 2006
A DuPage County judge is scheduled to begin hearing testimony today to determine whether Indian Prairie Unit District 204 has bargained in good faith to obtain the land it needs to build a 3,000-student high school in Aurora.
By week’s end, district officials may have a better idea of what the future holds for the Brach-Brodie property off Route 59 near 75th Street and Commons Drive.
The district already owns 25 acres at the site and filed a condemnation suit last December for the remaining 55 acres it wants to build the proposed high school campus on.
Officials said the school is needed to ease the strain of growing enrollment at Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools.
“(On Monday) we’ll present our side first and then the Brach-Brodie (attorneys present),” Superintendent Howard Crouse said. “Largely it’s going back over information contained in depositions and exhibits that were previously filed so the judge gets to hear it firsthand.”
The outcome of this week’s hearing is important because officials have said the $124.7æmillion budget for the new school — approved in March by taxpayers in portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield — is contingent on a spring construction start date.
Any delays in that date could increase the cost of the project.
The land in question was owned by the late Brach brothers of Brach Candy fame and was passed on to their wives, Helen Vorhees Brach and Hazel S. (Brach) Brodie, also deceased.
Attorneys for the Brodie trust have said the district’s offer of $257,500 per acre was not a good faith effort and is roughly half the market value.
The district said its proposal is a fair offer and similar to what other property has sold for in the area.
The district’s lawyers have called the motion to dismiss “procedural stalling.”
A judge has denied the district’s requests for access to the land to take soil samples and make other assessments.
The district plans to ask state lawmakers this month for “quick take” powers to gain faster access to the property without having to wait for the results of the condemnation proceedings.
They said such powers would level the playing field in negotiations and prevent the Brach-Brodie attorneys from stalling to drive up the price.
District 204 officials won’t say if there’s a contingency plan should the judge dismiss the case or what will happen if they don’t have access to the property in the spring.
“We’re going into this expecting to win,” Crouse said.
shooker@dailyherald.com
Land: Project price contingent on spring start date
