Post by doctorwho on Sept 5, 2008 7:46:07 GMT -6
Let's hope the end result is $0 cost to the taxpayers of 204 for the bumbling we have had to ensure the last few years- but a tip of the hat to the SUn for calling it like it is - I'm surprised this wasn't swept under the rug.
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/opinions/1146004,6_4_NA05_EDITORIAL_S1.article
D204 makes progress in defending school site suits
September 5, 2008Recommend
Indian Prairie School District 204 inched a bit closer earlier this week to clearing up its legal problems over the former site for Metea Valley High School.
DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Popejoy on Wednesday threw out the suit filed by the Brodie trust demanding that the district go ahead and buy what is known as the Brach-Brodie land - 55 acres at 75th Street and the future extension of Commons Drive in Aurora.
The district originally had condemned the site and then, when the condemnation jury put a value on it roughly twice what the district had expected to pay, it declined to purchase it.
THE ISSUE: A DuPage County Circuit Court judge threw out Wednesday one of the remaining lawsuits against District 204 over the Brach-Brodie site.
OUR VIEW: That's good news for the district, but there is still one to go.
On May 29, the same judge dismissed a suit filed by a parents group that sought to force the district to build Metea Valley only on the Brach-Brodie land.
When Popejoy threw out the Brodie suit Wednesday, he only ruled that this argument should be made as part of the ongoing condemnation lawsuit in which both the Brach and Brodie trusts are seeking reimbursement for the expenses they incurred during the district's eminent domain suit and its subsequent abandoning of the purchase of the land.
In other words, the district has gone from defending three suits to defending only one, which is progress of a sort. Although, it obviously would have been better had there been no suits at all.
With the one that remains, the district could conceivably be on the hook for a few million dollars in damages to the Brach and Brodie trusts.
The district's long-term struggle to decide what to do about building a third high school - including opening two freshman campuses in lieu of building an entire high school and then changing its mind about what its needs were - has pretty much been a mess from beginning to end. Some critics of the district still would argue that the third high school is not needed. One can see this as an issue in the next school board election.
Though the court system may grind slowly along, construction of the new high school doesn't. The district plans to open the 3,000-seat Metea Valley High School at its Eola and Molitor roads site next fall.
For the sake of the district and its taxpayers, one hopes that by the time the new school opens, the legal squabbling over where it didn't go will have ended without settlement damages to its coffers.
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/opinions/1146004,6_4_NA05_EDITORIAL_S1.article
D204 makes progress in defending school site suits
September 5, 2008Recommend
Indian Prairie School District 204 inched a bit closer earlier this week to clearing up its legal problems over the former site for Metea Valley High School.
DuPage County Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Popejoy on Wednesday threw out the suit filed by the Brodie trust demanding that the district go ahead and buy what is known as the Brach-Brodie land - 55 acres at 75th Street and the future extension of Commons Drive in Aurora.
The district originally had condemned the site and then, when the condemnation jury put a value on it roughly twice what the district had expected to pay, it declined to purchase it.
THE ISSUE: A DuPage County Circuit Court judge threw out Wednesday one of the remaining lawsuits against District 204 over the Brach-Brodie site.
OUR VIEW: That's good news for the district, but there is still one to go.
On May 29, the same judge dismissed a suit filed by a parents group that sought to force the district to build Metea Valley only on the Brach-Brodie land.
When Popejoy threw out the Brodie suit Wednesday, he only ruled that this argument should be made as part of the ongoing condemnation lawsuit in which both the Brach and Brodie trusts are seeking reimbursement for the expenses they incurred during the district's eminent domain suit and its subsequent abandoning of the purchase of the land.
In other words, the district has gone from defending three suits to defending only one, which is progress of a sort. Although, it obviously would have been better had there been no suits at all.
With the one that remains, the district could conceivably be on the hook for a few million dollars in damages to the Brach and Brodie trusts.
The district's long-term struggle to decide what to do about building a third high school - including opening two freshman campuses in lieu of building an entire high school and then changing its mind about what its needs were - has pretty much been a mess from beginning to end. Some critics of the district still would argue that the third high school is not needed. One can see this as an issue in the next school board election.
Though the court system may grind slowly along, construction of the new high school doesn't. The district plans to open the 3,000-seat Metea Valley High School at its Eola and Molitor roads site next fall.
For the sake of the district and its taxpayers, one hopes that by the time the new school opens, the legal squabbling over where it didn't go will have ended without settlement damages to its coffers.
