Post by JB on Apr 15, 2008 5:19:25 GMT -6
Church's offer is accepted
Metea Valley to go on Eola after all
By Melissa Jenco
Indian Prairie Unit District 204 will build Metea Valley High School along Eola Road on land it will purchase solely from St. John AME Church.
The board approved spending just over $18.9 million for 84 acres just south of the combined church and Midwest Generation site that fell through late last week.
"What we're faced with today is the opportunity to build at a site we felt most workable under all of the current conditions but is actually improved because now we're further away from the gas line and we're further away from the railroad tracks and we're further away from power lines and we're further away from the portion of site that previously hosted the peaker plant," school board President Mark Metzger said before a capacity crowd.
Following a strict timeline, Superintendent Stephen Daeschner said Metea can still open in August 2009.
The district, which includes portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield, has said Metea is needed to alleviate crowding at Neuqua and Waubonsie Valley high schools.
Midwest Generation had planned to sell 37 acres to the district to be combined with 49 acres from St. John. But it announced Thursday it was backing out because of community opposition.
St. John, which had planned to build a 6,500-square-foot church on its remaining land, agreed to sell its entire parcel.
"This would not have happened without these great people," Daeschner said. "He (Senior Pastor Jesse Hawkins Jr.) is doing this on faith that they will find appropriate land to build their great church."
Daeschner said an environmental study has already been performed on the entire 84 acres and found no problems. The district is expected to release that report today.
Several hundred residents turned out for the meeting, flowing over into a separate room to watch via live feed. Roughly 27 of them made passionate pleas to the district either for or against building on Eola.
Supporters said they approved the 2006 referendum request based on the need for a third high school, not the site that was selected, and said they believe building on the Eola site would be both safe and fiscally responsible.
Critics of the Eola site included members of Neighborhood Schools for Our Children, a group of residents that has filed a lawsuit against the district in an attempt to force it to return to the Brach-Brodie property it originally had selected for the school near 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora.
That deal fell through in September when a jury set the price for 55 acres at $31 million -- roughly $17 million more than school officials thought it was worth.
The Neighborhood Schools for Our Children members said Monday that building on the Eola site is unsafe and asked the district to slow down.
But the board voted 6-1 to approve the land purchase, causing some residents to storm angrily out of the meeting.
"Every step of the way we have met people on both sides of the fence who have had opinions one way or the other, and we have respected those opinions and taken what we believe is the best interest of kids because that is what we were all elected to do," board member Jeannette Clark said. "In the end ... you can never meet the needs of every single person."
Board member Christine Vickers, a longtime opponent of building a third high school, was the lone "no" vote, citing enrollment lagging behind projections and the change in site from the original referendum.
"If we all knew the numbers were faulty and we knew we couldn't procure Brach-Brodie, the question in my mind is would the board and the voters have supported this measure in 2006," she said.
Vickers also criticized the district for not having done an appraisal of the St. John site before negotiating a price, but board member Alka Tyle said neighboring Midwest Generation land had been appraised and the district had studied the value of other area sites.
Immediately after the vote, Jasmine Sohaey Grassi released a statement on behalf of the Neighborhood Schools for Our Children group, saying it is disappointed with the board's decision.
"The thing that becomes most clear to us tonight is that this situation has become more complicated, not less," she said in the statement. "This school board has become more secretive, not less. This community has become more divided, not less. The school board needs to stop and address the issues that arose tonight. Any other action would be disrespectful to all taxpayers and in essence, unethical."
Metea Valley to go on Eola after all
By Melissa Jenco
Indian Prairie Unit District 204 will build Metea Valley High School along Eola Road on land it will purchase solely from St. John AME Church.
The board approved spending just over $18.9 million for 84 acres just south of the combined church and Midwest Generation site that fell through late last week.
"What we're faced with today is the opportunity to build at a site we felt most workable under all of the current conditions but is actually improved because now we're further away from the gas line and we're further away from the railroad tracks and we're further away from power lines and we're further away from the portion of site that previously hosted the peaker plant," school board President Mark Metzger said before a capacity crowd.
Following a strict timeline, Superintendent Stephen Daeschner said Metea can still open in August 2009.
The district, which includes portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield, has said Metea is needed to alleviate crowding at Neuqua and Waubonsie Valley high schools.
Midwest Generation had planned to sell 37 acres to the district to be combined with 49 acres from St. John. But it announced Thursday it was backing out because of community opposition.
St. John, which had planned to build a 6,500-square-foot church on its remaining land, agreed to sell its entire parcel.
"This would not have happened without these great people," Daeschner said. "He (Senior Pastor Jesse Hawkins Jr.) is doing this on faith that they will find appropriate land to build their great church."
Daeschner said an environmental study has already been performed on the entire 84 acres and found no problems. The district is expected to release that report today.
Several hundred residents turned out for the meeting, flowing over into a separate room to watch via live feed. Roughly 27 of them made passionate pleas to the district either for or against building on Eola.
Supporters said they approved the 2006 referendum request based on the need for a third high school, not the site that was selected, and said they believe building on the Eola site would be both safe and fiscally responsible.
Critics of the Eola site included members of Neighborhood Schools for Our Children, a group of residents that has filed a lawsuit against the district in an attempt to force it to return to the Brach-Brodie property it originally had selected for the school near 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora.
That deal fell through in September when a jury set the price for 55 acres at $31 million -- roughly $17 million more than school officials thought it was worth.
The Neighborhood Schools for Our Children members said Monday that building on the Eola site is unsafe and asked the district to slow down.
But the board voted 6-1 to approve the land purchase, causing some residents to storm angrily out of the meeting.
"Every step of the way we have met people on both sides of the fence who have had opinions one way or the other, and we have respected those opinions and taken what we believe is the best interest of kids because that is what we were all elected to do," board member Jeannette Clark said. "In the end ... you can never meet the needs of every single person."
Board member Christine Vickers, a longtime opponent of building a third high school, was the lone "no" vote, citing enrollment lagging behind projections and the change in site from the original referendum.
"If we all knew the numbers were faulty and we knew we couldn't procure Brach-Brodie, the question in my mind is would the board and the voters have supported this measure in 2006," she said.
Vickers also criticized the district for not having done an appraisal of the St. John site before negotiating a price, but board member Alka Tyle said neighboring Midwest Generation land had been appraised and the district had studied the value of other area sites.
Immediately after the vote, Jasmine Sohaey Grassi released a statement on behalf of the Neighborhood Schools for Our Children group, saying it is disappointed with the board's decision.
"The thing that becomes most clear to us tonight is that this situation has become more complicated, not less," she said in the statement. "This school board has become more secretive, not less. This community has become more divided, not less. The school board needs to stop and address the issues that arose tonight. Any other action would be disrespectful to all taxpayers and in essence, unethical."
I think this lack of due diligence will only fuel the fire of the NSFOC lawsuit. I saw the NSFOC folks licking their chops when that was revealed and quite frankly I cannot blame them. 
