|
|
Post by gatormom on Oct 16, 2007 4:59:29 GMT -6
District 204 considers land options
October 16, 2007
By BRITT CARSON
Four options for a third high school are on the table in Indian Prairie School District 204.
School board members met in executive session for two hours on Monday during a special meeting. School board President Mark Metzger did not give details, but directed staff to pursue negotiations with four landowners.
"The board had detailed discussions tonight regarding four scenarios, four sitings, each of which is potentially viable," Metzger said.
The staff is expected to report back to the board at the end of this week. The board is expected to scheduled special meetings for Thursday and Saturday.
Representatives from Macom met with board members during executive session on Monday. However, Metzger did not confirm or release any details of the sites.
Monday marked the second night the school board held a special meeting to discuss options for Metea Valley High School.
The school board wants to build Metea Valley on 80 acres of the Brach-Brodie property. It already owns 25 acres and filed a condemnation lawsuit for the adjacent 55 acres. A jury determined the price per acre at $518,250 - more than twice what the district planned to pay. The district has until Oct. 27 to act on that offer.
Mike Van Poucke, vice president of marketing for Macom, signed up to speak during the public comment of the meeting, but was first called into executive session with the board. He confirmed to residents the Macom proposal was being presented again to board members.
Paul Lehman, president of Macom, has previously offered the district $334,000 an acre for land in his Ashwood development. But school board members had previously said the site had several problems, including that Lehman does not own all of the land and had already donated a portion to the Naperville Park District for a park.
The location at 95th Street and Wolf's Crossing Road also would require changes to the high school boundaries the school board set before the passage of the $124.7 million referendum in 2006.
With the price of the Brach-Brodie land so high, the school board asked administrators to evaluate all options, Mark Metzger, board president, said previously.
|
|
|
|
Post by soon2bwvhs on Oct 16, 2007 5:12:55 GMT -6
District 204 considers land optionsOctober 16, 2007 By BRITT CARSON Four options for a third high school are on the table in Indian Prairie School District 204. School board members met in executive session for two hours on Monday during a special meeting. School board President Mark Metzger did not give details, but directed staff to pursue negotiations with four landowners. "The board had detailed discussions tonight regarding four scenarios, four sitings, each of which is potentially viable," Metzger said. The staff is expected to report back to the board at the end of this week. The board is expected to scheduled special meetings for Thursday and Saturday. Representatives from Macom met with board members during executive session on Monday. However, Metzger did not confirm or release any details of the sites. Monday marked the second night the school board held a special meeting to discuss options for Metea Valley High School. The school board wants to build Metea Valley on 80 acres of the Brach-Brodie property. It already owns 25 acres and filed a condemnation lawsuit for the adjacent 55 acres. A jury determined the price per acre at $518,250 - more than twice what the district planned to pay. The district has until Oct. 27 to act on that offer. Mike Van Poucke, vice president of marketing for Macom, signed up to speak during the public comment of the meeting, but was first called into executive session with the board. He confirmed to residents the Macom proposal was being presented again to board members. Paul Lehman, president of Macom, has previously offered the district $334,000 an acre for land in his Ashwood development. But school board members had previously said the site had several problems, including that Lehman does not own all of the land and had already donated a portion to the Naperville Park District for a park. The location at 95th Street and Wolf's Crossing Road also would require changes to the high school boundaries the school board set before the passage of the $124.7 million referendum in 2006. With the price of the Brach-Brodie land so high, the school board asked administrators to evaluate all options, Mark Metzger, board president, said previously. Thanks GM for the post; you save me a trip down the driveway. Well there you have; SB considering options and are in "negotiations with four landowners" including Macom. I am curious if this little tidbit satisfies those on this board that have criticized the SB for not considering other options? |
|
|
|
Post by Arch on Oct 16, 2007 5:46:46 GMT -6
Sounds like the complaints accusing them of not looking at other options turned out to be unfounded.
|
|
|
|
Post by macy on Oct 16, 2007 6:26:59 GMT -6
Sounds like the complaints accusing them of not looking at other options turned out to be unfounded. At least they sat down last night. Not sure what was going on up until then. |
|
|
|
Post by Arch on Oct 16, 2007 6:29:54 GMT -6
Sounds like the complaints accusing them of not looking at other options turned out to be unfounded. At least they sat down last night. Not sure what was going on up until then. If any of the property owners were there behind closed doors with them, that signals to me they were already working it prior. You don't just give someone a call 5 minutes ahead of time saying you want them to drive down and discuss a potential land purchase. |
|
|
|
Post by dpc on Oct 16, 2007 6:39:29 GMT -6
If any of the property owners were there behind closed doors with them, that signals to me they were already working it prior. You don't just give someone a call 5 minutes ahead of time saying you want them to drive down and discuss a potential land purchase. My interpretation of the article is that the Macom VP may have been pulled into Exec Session only he signed up for public comment. Perhaps an effort to silence him in front of the masses or truly an attempt at good faith negotiation? Remains to be seen IMHO. |
|
|
|
Post by scarbroughknight on Oct 16, 2007 6:43:29 GMT -6
The Sun mentions Macom as being one of the options. Any idea what the other three might be?
|
|
|
|
Post by justme on Oct 16, 2007 7:09:00 GMT -6
If any of the property owners were there behind closed doors with them, that signals to me they were already working it prior. You don't just give someone a call 5 minutes ahead of time saying you want them to drive down and discuss a potential land purchase. My interpretation of the article is that the Macom VP may have been pulled into Exec Session only he signed up for public comment. Perhaps an effort to silence him in front of the masses or truly an attempt at good faith negotiation? Remains to be seen IMHO. Ditto on that dcp. Trust is so low in this SB and M2 is the master of manipulation so who knows the motive. This SB lost the benefit of the doubt from me long ago but the QT manipulations really sealed the deal. |
|
|
|
Post by EagleDad on Oct 16, 2007 7:09:43 GMT -6
Take the Macom deal, give the 25 acres at BB to the Park District (we take a bath on selling it back to BB anyways). Move on.
|
|
|
|
Post by dpc on Oct 16, 2007 7:16:20 GMT -6
Take the Macom deal, give the 25 acres at BB to the Park District (we take a bath on selling it back to BB anyways). Move on. To which Park District? The land is in Aurora so are you suggesting that they give it to Fox Valley PD or Naperville? If it is the latter, I am sure the city of Aurora will have much to say on that. |
|
|
|
Post by wvhsparent on Oct 16, 2007 7:18:20 GMT -6
Take the Macom deal, give the 25 acres at BB to the Park District (we take a bath on selling it back to BB anyways). Move on. We would 1st have to build a little "school" on it...then donate to Park Dist. Would that be Fox Valley Park Dist or Naperville Park Dist? If memory serves, that area is within the FVPD. I am sure we could find some scrap lumber around..... |
|
|
|
Post by wvhsparent on Oct 16, 2007 7:23:14 GMT -6
Sounds like the complaints accusing them of not looking at other options turned out to be unfounded. I am pleased they are looking. What I was critical of was that they were not doing this a long time ago. IMHO they should have started that right after they filed the suit, due to their past dealings with BB. Better late than never i suppose. Once the final decision is made they had better divulge - in detail- how they came up with it. |
|
|
|
Post by EagleDad on Oct 16, 2007 7:25:29 GMT -6
Take the Macom deal, give the 25 acres at BB to the Park District (we take a bath on selling it back to BB anyways). Move on. To which Park District? The land is in Aurora so are you suggesting that they give it to Fox Valley PD or Naperville? If it is the latter, I am sure the city of Aurora will have much to say on that. Give it to the Naperville PD (to which Macom owes land). It's in FVPD? Too bad. |
|
|
|
Post by Arch on Oct 16, 2007 7:28:14 GMT -6
If any of the property owners were there behind closed doors with them, that signals to me they were already working it prior. You don't just give someone a call 5 minutes ahead of time saying you want them to drive down and discuss a potential land purchase. My interpretation of the article is that the Macom VP may have been pulled into Exec Session only he signed up for public comment. Perhaps an effort to silence him in front of the masses or truly an attempt at good faith negotiation? Remains to be seen IMHO. Silence him? Was his name called during the public comment time? If so, he was not silenced. If he chose not to speak, that is his choice. If his name was scratched off the list without him asking to be removed and was not called at all, then I would have a problem with that. Which way did it actually happen? |
|
|
|
Post by momof3 on Oct 16, 2007 9:17:05 GMT -6
District 204 considers land optionsOctober 16, 2007 By BRITT CARSON Mike Van Poucke, vice president of marketing for Macom, signed up to speak during the public comment of the meeting, but was first called into executive session with the board. He confirmed to residents the Macom proposal was being presented again to board members. 2 thoughts: - very smart to send a marketing guy to the meeting - diffuse any animosity towards PL and probably a good salesman & public speaker - sounds like the exact same offer - since they used the word "again" - makes me hopeful that the price hasn't gone up - in hindsight I wonder if Macom is sorry they revealed the price to the papers 6 months ago so everyone will know if they try to raise the price |
|
