Post by insider on Dec 15, 2010 23:49:33 GMT -6
Sounds too familiar
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Oswego district buys land for third high school
By Rowena Vergara
rvergara@stmedianetwork.com
Dec 14, 2010 08:04PM
The Oswego School Board voted 6-1 to spend $3.3 million for 115 acres at Plainfield and Ridge roads as the site for a third high school.
The decision overrides the district’s original intention of building the school at the southeast corner of Grove Road and Route 126 in Na-Au-Say Township. In 2008, the board spent $5.3 million to buy the land off Route 126. It intends to keep that land.
A contract will be drafted for the purchase and sale between the district and Chicago Title & Trust Company and Gray Farm Limited Partnership. The next step for the district includes a meeting with the village of Plainfield today to begin talking about the annexation process, said Doug Gallois, executive director of construction services for the Oswego School District.
According to the contract, the high school could accommodate as many as 3,000 students and staff. It would include a football stadium, six baseball and softball fields, three football fields, two soccer fields, 12 tennis courts, and track and field facilities.
The board must still determine whether to build a swimming pool now, later, or at all, and the same questions must be answered about synthetic turf on athletic fields. On Monday, the board was asked to determine the basics: the capacity of the high school when it opens in the fall of 2014.
Gallois is expected to present the board with the total square footage of the building at three capacities: 2,400 students and staff; 3,000 students and staff; or a building with an initial capacity of 2,400, adaptable for up to 3,000.
All but one board member, Dave Behrens, voted for the new site.
The cost difference between the two projects became the biggest factor for some board members. Staff determined that the cost of building at Plainfield and Ridge roads was $2.2 million less than on the Route 126 property.
School Board President Lynn Cullick said Fox Metro Water Reclamation District was not interested in servicing the Route 126 property. The Oswego Village Board was also not in favor of developing that land, Cullick said.
“It would have set a precedent for allowing that size of well and septic system to be approved,” Cullick said.
Gallois added Tuesday the cost to build the infrastructure there would be “awfully incredible.”
Also, when Oswego purchased the Route 126 property, a development was planned in that area that made the piece of land more attractive. That developer has since pulled out of the project, and the infrastructure to support a high school doesn’t exist, Cullick said. Cullick said transportation costs to the original site also would have been a burden to the district.
But Behrens said he felt the Route 126 land was a perfect site for the next high school.
“The property we (already) have is better located. … We need a facility further south to cover the Joliet area better,” Behrens said.
Cullick expects future growth to come from the Plainfield area first, not Joliet.
The deal is expected to close no later than Aug. 1, 2011, or within 30 days of the district securing the annexation, zoning and development approvals.
The project has a estimated budget of $105 million, and will be paid for by a $450 million building referendum voters approved in 2006.
According to the district, the property was purchased because it met certain criteria: it is at least 2.5 miles from existing high schools, within a half-mile of utilities such as gas, electric, water and sewer, is adjacent to a major roadway and is at least 100 acres.
The issue had been discussed in several executive sessions prior to the vote Monday night.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oswego district buys land for third high school
By Rowena Vergara
rvergara@stmedianetwork.com
Dec 14, 2010 08:04PM
The Oswego School Board voted 6-1 to spend $3.3 million for 115 acres at Plainfield and Ridge roads as the site for a third high school.
The decision overrides the district’s original intention of building the school at the southeast corner of Grove Road and Route 126 in Na-Au-Say Township. In 2008, the board spent $5.3 million to buy the land off Route 126. It intends to keep that land.
A contract will be drafted for the purchase and sale between the district and Chicago Title & Trust Company and Gray Farm Limited Partnership. The next step for the district includes a meeting with the village of Plainfield today to begin talking about the annexation process, said Doug Gallois, executive director of construction services for the Oswego School District.
According to the contract, the high school could accommodate as many as 3,000 students and staff. It would include a football stadium, six baseball and softball fields, three football fields, two soccer fields, 12 tennis courts, and track and field facilities.
The board must still determine whether to build a swimming pool now, later, or at all, and the same questions must be answered about synthetic turf on athletic fields. On Monday, the board was asked to determine the basics: the capacity of the high school when it opens in the fall of 2014.
Gallois is expected to present the board with the total square footage of the building at three capacities: 2,400 students and staff; 3,000 students and staff; or a building with an initial capacity of 2,400, adaptable for up to 3,000.
All but one board member, Dave Behrens, voted for the new site.
The cost difference between the two projects became the biggest factor for some board members. Staff determined that the cost of building at Plainfield and Ridge roads was $2.2 million less than on the Route 126 property.
School Board President Lynn Cullick said Fox Metro Water Reclamation District was not interested in servicing the Route 126 property. The Oswego Village Board was also not in favor of developing that land, Cullick said.
“It would have set a precedent for allowing that size of well and septic system to be approved,” Cullick said.
Gallois added Tuesday the cost to build the infrastructure there would be “awfully incredible.”
Also, when Oswego purchased the Route 126 property, a development was planned in that area that made the piece of land more attractive. That developer has since pulled out of the project, and the infrastructure to support a high school doesn’t exist, Cullick said. Cullick said transportation costs to the original site also would have been a burden to the district.
But Behrens said he felt the Route 126 land was a perfect site for the next high school.
“The property we (already) have is better located. … We need a facility further south to cover the Joliet area better,” Behrens said.
Cullick expects future growth to come from the Plainfield area first, not Joliet.
The deal is expected to close no later than Aug. 1, 2011, or within 30 days of the district securing the annexation, zoning and development approvals.
The project has a estimated budget of $105 million, and will be paid for by a $450 million building referendum voters approved in 2006.
According to the district, the property was purchased because it met certain criteria: it is at least 2.5 miles from existing high schools, within a half-mile of utilities such as gas, electric, water and sewer, is adjacent to a major roadway and is at least 100 acres.
The issue had been discussed in several executive sessions prior to the vote Monday night.