updated Herald Article w/ timeline
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=170407Seller backs out of Metea Valley land deal
By Melissa Jenco | Daily Herald StaffContact writerPublished: 4/10/2008 2:37 PM |
Updated: 4/10/2008 10:49 PM Comments:
(12) | read | post Buzz up!Indian Prairie Unit District 204's plans to build Metea Valley High School along Eola Road came crashing down Thursday when one of the land owners backed out of the deal.
Midwest Generation announced it is stepping away from negotiations to sell roughly 37 acres to the district on Eola just south of Diehl Road near Aurora. The company cited "serious public opposition and a deep division within the community."
District 204 wanted to combine the land with 49 acres it planned to purchase from St. John AME Church to construct a 3,000-student facility to ease crowding at Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools. Metea had been scheduled to open in August 2009.
District 204 entered a memorandum of understanding with Midwest Generation in January, but not a contract of sale.
The district had come under considerable fire during the past month from a group of parents called Neighborhood Schools for Our Children, which filed a lawsuit in an attempt to force the district to return to the Brach-Brodie property it originally had selected for the school near 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora.
The district abandoned plans for that site when a jury in condemnation proceedings set the price for 55 acres at $31 million -- roughly $17 million more than school officials thought it was worth. The district already owns 25 acres at the Brach-Brodie site but has said it needs a total of roughly 80 acres to house a high school campus.
Once the Brach-Brodie talks broke down, officials turned their attention to the Eola Road site, triggering a firestorm of controversy.
Attorney Shawn Collins, who represents the parents group, raised numerous questions about the environmental safety of the Eola Road property, citing concerns about a former power plant on the site, overhead power lines and high-pressure natural gas pipelines that run through the land.
The district released environmental reports earlier this week saying only the northeastern 15.5 acres of the 87-acre site were contaminated with diesel fuel and PCB contaminants, which could be remediated. Collins, however, maintained the tests were inadequate.
In a letter to the school district Thursday afternoon, Midwest Generation Vice President of Technical Services Fred McCluskey said opposition from the community spurred the company's decision not to move ahead with the sale.
"That opposition includes a lawsuit against the school district, lobbying of public officials, and a grass-roots effort that has disseminated incorrect, misleading and potentially harmful information about not only the school district, but Midwest Generation as well," McCluskey wrote. "Consequently it is our considered opinion that continued negotiations and the potential sale represent a threat to both the business interests and reputation of Midwest Generation."
The company said it would consider reopening negotiations only if there is consensus from the community.
Midwest Generation spokesman Charley Parnell said the company was never actively marketing the site to begin with and is not concerned about the recent controversy affecting interested buyers in the future.
"There is no need nor did the report show any need for concern regarding the site," he said. "Any remediation that would be needed is classified as minor so we don't have concern that if anyone else was to approach us we'd have any problem selling the property."
With yet another plan falling through, the district is going back to the drawing board.
"We are currently investigating fiscally responsible land options that will move construction forward to ease the overcrowding," Superintendent Stephen Daeschner said in a district-wide e-mail. "I will continue to bring you updates as we have more information."
School board President Mark Metzger called the situation "disappointing" but said there were indications for the past few weeks that the deal could fall through.
"We've had discussions with them (Midwest Generation) for several weeks and they expressed nervousness about the situation," he said.
While District 204 has a contract with St. John AME Church, it included a contingency that the district would first be able to close with Midwest Generation.
Metzger said the board will discuss its options but would not speculate as to what those will entail or whether the school still can open in 2009. He also would not speculate as to whether the Brach-Brodie site could be put back on the table.
"If it is still (an option) we're faced with the same problems with the site since the (condemnation) verdict, which is we can't afford it," he said.
Collins said Thursday he takes no joy in the Midwest Generation decision.
He said he hopes the company's letter leads the district to refocus its attention on acquiring the Brach-Brodie property. If it does, he said, the parents he represents will drop their lawsuit.
Collins said he hopes Thursday's developments also force the district to take a more measured view of what it's doing and to "realistically and rationally evaluate where it is."
"This has been a disaster in the way the district has handled itself, and I can only hope that this jarring event will get the district back on track," he said.
That track, he said, should take the district far away from the Eola Road site and the environmental concerns that have been raised there.
"It is the right decision to turn away from Eola-Molitor," he said.
Board member Christine Vickers said she began asking her peers to start talking about a "Plan B" two weeks ago.
"As soon as we knew (Midwest Generation) was reconsidering selling us the land, we should have begun talking about other options," she said. "But we never got that far."
A member of the parents group, Jasmine Sohaey Grassi, released a statement Thursday that read in part:
"While the school board originally eliminated this land (Eola Road) for safety reasons and then changed its mind -- NSFOC has always believed that this site was not a safe place to build a school.
"We thank Midwest Generation for having the wisdom and good judgment to reconsider selling this land to the (District 204) school board. We regret that the … school board did not exhibit the same wisdom or good judgment. To date, this board has shown the concerned residents of District 204 that neither the safety of children, fiscal responsibility to the taxpayers nor accountability for their actions are priorities for them.
"With this site no longer an option, we feel this is an excellent opportunity for the … school board to return to what the voters voted for in the 2006 referendum after a long and very effective marketing campaign conducted by the school board: (1) A third high school (2) on the Brach-Brodie land at 75th Street and Route 59 (3) with the original boundaries that were sold to the voters."
Vickers said she thinks the district needs to take an even bigger step back.
"It has been my position that there is no need for a third high school and I have never wavered from that stance," she said. "In reviewing the actual and projected high school enrollment presented to us by the administration in March 2008, showing enrollment peaks in 2012 and 2013 at 8,900, the need for a 3,000-student high school continues to be questionable."
"In light of the differing issues together with the upset and division amongst the community today, wouldn't it now be an opportune time to revisit this issue in its entirety with a more conservative, less costly, less controversial approach in order to minimize the turmoil being generated from all angles?"
Metea Valley timeline
A look at Indian Prairie Unit District 204's lengthy, and so far unsuccessful, pursuit of land for Metea Valley High School:
May 2005: District purchases 25 acres of the Brach-Brodie property off Route 59 near 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora.
December 2005: District files condemnation suit to obtain the remaining 55 acres of the Brach-Brodie site it needs for an 80-acre high school campus.
February 2006: Attorneys for Brach-Brodie file motion to dismiss case, saying district didn't bargain in good faith.
March 2006: Voters approve $124.7 million tax increase to pay for high school.
November 2006: Judge grants district permission to continue its quest for the land and denies the trust's motion to dismiss.
November 2006: State lawmakers refuse district's request for "quick-take" powers to obtain access to the land.
January 2007: State Rep. Joe Dunn again files a request that state lawmakers consider giving the district immediate access to the site.
March 2007: Judge sets a Sept. 17 court date for a jury to determine the Brach-Brodie land's cost.
March 2007: Without a vote to spare, the Illinois House approves quick-take legislation for the district.
June 2007: After Dunn's quick-take proposal stalls, state Sen. Randall Hultgren, a Winfield Republican, takes the reins in trying to get a similar proposal passed.
August 2007: School board President Mark Metzger accuses state Sen. Linda Holmes, new sponsor of the quick-take proposal, of delaying the legislation unless the district changes its high school boundaries for two subdivisions. The legislature, locked in an overtime session budget battle, never votes on the measure.
September 2007: The condemnation trial includes testimony from experts as to the value of the land. School district: $250,000 an acre; Brodie trust: $540,000 an acre; Brach trust: $650,000 an acre.
September 2007: A jury unanimously sets the price of the 55 acres at $28.5 million plus an additional $2.5 million in damages. The cost is more than double what the district believes the property is worth.
October 2007: The district begins negotiations on four possible sites for Metea, which it does not disclose.
October 2007: The school board announces it cannot afford the Brach-Brodie property and asks the court for a new trial.
November 2007: The Brodie trust files a motion asking the courts to force the district to either buy their property or pay additional fees.
January 2008: A judge denies the district's request for a new trial.
January 2008: District administrators recommend building Metea on 87 acres off Eola Road just south of the Illinois Prairie Path. The parcel, owned by St. John AME Church and Midwest Generation, would cost $16.5 million.
February 2008: District officially abandons the Brach-Brodie land in court.
February 2008: District approves new school boundaries based on "logic" and "geography" in a 5½-hour meeting attended by about 450 residents.
February 2008: Waubonsie Principal Jim Schmid is tapped to be principal of Metea.
March 2008: A newly formed group, Neighborhood Schools for Our Children, meets to discuss its opposition to the Eola Road site, calling it a "bait and switch" on voters who approved the tax increase.
March 2008: The group files a lawsuit against District 204. That night, the school board moves forward in approving $8.6 million in pre-construction contracts for Metea.
March 2008: Brodie attorney Steve Helm says he plans to ask the court for $13 million in legal fees and damages
March 2008: Shawn Collins, an environmental attorney representing Neighborhood Schools for Our Children, releases a six-page position paper outlining reasons the Eola Road site is unsafe, including a former power plant on the site, power lines and gas pipelines.
March 2008: School board approves $9 million in steel bids for Metea and an annexation agreement with the city of Aurora while waiting for permission to release environmental reports on the site.
March 2008: The Aurora City Council approves the annexation agreement for the Eola Road site.
April 2008: District 204 releases environmental reports that show only 15.5 acres of the 87-acre site are contaminated with diesel fuel and PCB contaminants and can be remediated. NSFOC attorney Shawn Collins says the tests are inadequate. Brodie attorney Steve Helm files a complaint saying both a previous settlement agreement and a successful referendum request require the district to purchase the Brach-Brodie land. The district denies any such obligation.
April 2008: Midwest Generation announces it is stepping away from negotiations to sell roughly 37 acres to the district, citing "serious public opposition and a deep division within the community."Source: Daily Herald reports
