Post by gatormom on Oct 12, 2007 4:49:53 GMT -6
Parent's lobbyist fought district
Resident paid $18,000 to fight Dist. 204 land grab
Melissa Jenco | Daily Herald
10/12/2007
At least one Indian Prairie Unit District 204 resident put his money where his mouth is during the district's quest to purchase land for Metea Valley High School.
Neuqua parent Mark Spangler spent $18,000 on lobbyists in an effort to persuade state legislators not to grant the district "quick-take" powers to immediately access the land off Route 59 near 75th Street and Commons Drive.
The district already owns 25 acres of the property and wanted to purchase an additional 55 acres from the Brach-Brodie trust to create an 80-acre campus. In 2006, residents approved a $124.7 million referendum proposal to build the school.
When the two sides could not reach an agreement on price, the decision was put in the hands of a jury.
In the meantime, the school district was trying to persuade legislators to give it "quick-take" power so that it could start working on the land while it waited to go to trial. Quick-take was never granted.
In late September, a jury set the total price at $31 million, $17 million more than the district wants to pay.
If the district had been granted quick-take and exercised this power, it would be required to purchase the land at the price the jury set and could not back out of the deal.
Being potentially locked into a price is what spurred Spangler to hire lobbyist Jay Keller of Capitol Consulting Group Illinois to fight against quick-take.
"I did not feel that the … additional 55 acres could be purchased for $14 million. I felt additional land was going to cost somewhere around $30 million that was going to leave a deficit to the district of ($16) million," Spangler said.
State Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat, was sponsoring the quick-take proposal in the legislature and said she made the decision not to call it for a vote out of the same concern, though no one lobbyist swayed her decision.
She also was concerned about the way some of the district's boundaries were drawn.
"Plain and simple, I did not agree with the entire concept of it," she said. "We did not know what the court was going to come down with and rule on the price of property and I did not want to do that."
School board President Mark Metzger said he knew lobbyists were fighting the quick-take proposal but not specifically who was behind that push.
"Some people have strongly held convictions," Metzger said.
He said having quick-take authority wouldn't have meant the school district would have had to exercise it. Instead, it could have helped the district negotiate with the land owners.
Now that the jury verdict has come in higher than expected, the school district is looking at other possible sites to house Metea. It has until Oct. 27 to decide whether it will purchase the Brach-Brodie land.
One possibility is property at 248th Avenue and 95th Street owned by the Macom Corp. Paul Lehman, head of Macom, offered the site to the school district last year. There are currently 83 acres available for $21 million.
School board members have previously expressed concern over land preparations that would have to be done including rezoning and annexation that the city of Naperville estimated would take four to six months.
Lehman confirmed that his offer is still on the table and believes the land can be ready more quickly than the city predicted.
Spangler, who does not believe the district needs a third high school, is among the residents pushing for an alternate site and believes the Macom land would allow the district to construct the same building it planned to build on Brach-Brodie property with at least as many parking spaces and athletic fields but for a better price.
"It's safer for the kids for sure, it has better access and better egress for sure," he said. "I think it's a better location in that it's back in the neighborhoods as opposed to being out in a commercial district area."
Metzger confirmed the Macom property is one of several sites the district is considering.
He would not comment on the pros and cons of the Macom land or disclose the other sites being considered.
"I'm reluctant to discuss details of any site until the board has the benefit of all information we've asked the administration to pursue so we can properly evaluate all of the options," he said.
The district may also look at purchasing land from Calvary Church, 9S200 Route 59, which abuts 25 acres it already purchased from Brach-Brodie.
"I would presume (administrators and church leaders) had some of those discussions, but when and what the details are I don't know," Metzger said.
Calvary Church leaders did not return repeated calls for comment.
According to the terms of a 2005 settlement agreement with the Brach-Brodies, if the school district decides not to purchase the 55 acres it condemned, it will have to offer to sell the other 25 acres to the trust for what it originally paid -- about $6.4 million.
In that scenario, the district would have to pay the Brach-Brodie trust's legal fees, estimated to be at least $4 million.
If the district does purchase the land, it will have to pay interest at a rate of $5,100 for each day it takes to make a decision.
The school board will meet in closed session at 7:15 p.m. Monday at the Crouse Education Center, 780 Shoreline Dr., Aurora to discuss the administration's review of potential properties. The board will open the meeting for public comment as required by law.
Resident paid $18,000 to fight Dist. 204 land grab
Melissa Jenco | Daily Herald
10/12/2007
At least one Indian Prairie Unit District 204 resident put his money where his mouth is during the district's quest to purchase land for Metea Valley High School.
Neuqua parent Mark Spangler spent $18,000 on lobbyists in an effort to persuade state legislators not to grant the district "quick-take" powers to immediately access the land off Route 59 near 75th Street and Commons Drive.
The district already owns 25 acres of the property and wanted to purchase an additional 55 acres from the Brach-Brodie trust to create an 80-acre campus. In 2006, residents approved a $124.7 million referendum proposal to build the school.
When the two sides could not reach an agreement on price, the decision was put in the hands of a jury.
In the meantime, the school district was trying to persuade legislators to give it "quick-take" power so that it could start working on the land while it waited to go to trial. Quick-take was never granted.
In late September, a jury set the total price at $31 million, $17 million more than the district wants to pay.
If the district had been granted quick-take and exercised this power, it would be required to purchase the land at the price the jury set and could not back out of the deal.
Being potentially locked into a price is what spurred Spangler to hire lobbyist Jay Keller of Capitol Consulting Group Illinois to fight against quick-take.
"I did not feel that the … additional 55 acres could be purchased for $14 million. I felt additional land was going to cost somewhere around $30 million that was going to leave a deficit to the district of ($16) million," Spangler said.
State Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat, was sponsoring the quick-take proposal in the legislature and said she made the decision not to call it for a vote out of the same concern, though no one lobbyist swayed her decision.
She also was concerned about the way some of the district's boundaries were drawn.
"Plain and simple, I did not agree with the entire concept of it," she said. "We did not know what the court was going to come down with and rule on the price of property and I did not want to do that."
School board President Mark Metzger said he knew lobbyists were fighting the quick-take proposal but not specifically who was behind that push.
"Some people have strongly held convictions," Metzger said.
He said having quick-take authority wouldn't have meant the school district would have had to exercise it. Instead, it could have helped the district negotiate with the land owners.
Now that the jury verdict has come in higher than expected, the school district is looking at other possible sites to house Metea. It has until Oct. 27 to decide whether it will purchase the Brach-Brodie land.
One possibility is property at 248th Avenue and 95th Street owned by the Macom Corp. Paul Lehman, head of Macom, offered the site to the school district last year. There are currently 83 acres available for $21 million.
School board members have previously expressed concern over land preparations that would have to be done including rezoning and annexation that the city of Naperville estimated would take four to six months.
Lehman confirmed that his offer is still on the table and believes the land can be ready more quickly than the city predicted.
Spangler, who does not believe the district needs a third high school, is among the residents pushing for an alternate site and believes the Macom land would allow the district to construct the same building it planned to build on Brach-Brodie property with at least as many parking spaces and athletic fields but for a better price.
"It's safer for the kids for sure, it has better access and better egress for sure," he said. "I think it's a better location in that it's back in the neighborhoods as opposed to being out in a commercial district area."
Metzger confirmed the Macom property is one of several sites the district is considering.
He would not comment on the pros and cons of the Macom land or disclose the other sites being considered.
"I'm reluctant to discuss details of any site until the board has the benefit of all information we've asked the administration to pursue so we can properly evaluate all of the options," he said.
The district may also look at purchasing land from Calvary Church, 9S200 Route 59, which abuts 25 acres it already purchased from Brach-Brodie.
"I would presume (administrators and church leaders) had some of those discussions, but when and what the details are I don't know," Metzger said.
Calvary Church leaders did not return repeated calls for comment.
According to the terms of a 2005 settlement agreement with the Brach-Brodies, if the school district decides not to purchase the 55 acres it condemned, it will have to offer to sell the other 25 acres to the trust for what it originally paid -- about $6.4 million.
In that scenario, the district would have to pay the Brach-Brodie trust's legal fees, estimated to be at least $4 million.
If the district does purchase the land, it will have to pay interest at a rate of $5,100 for each day it takes to make a decision.
The school board will meet in closed session at 7:15 p.m. Monday at the Crouse Education Center, 780 Shoreline Dr., Aurora to discuss the administration's review of potential properties. The board will open the meeting for public comment as required by law.
