FAYETTEVILLE : Board to negotiate sale of school’s site
Posted on Friday, May 30, 2008
FAYETTEVILLE — The Fayetteville Board of Education voted Thursday to begin negotiations to sell the current Fayetteville High School site to the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and to purchase 88 acres in the southeast corner of the city to build a new campus.
The board voted 6-1 in favor of offering the current 40-acre site for $ 59 million to the university in an offer that expires July 1.
The decision follows two years of discussions of potential high school sites capped by Fayetteville School District Superintendent Bobby New’s recommendation Friday that the board formalize its intentions in time for the university’s June 6 trustees meeting.
“To say the public has been involved in this decision is as much an understatement as to say that Fayetteville loves a good debate,” New said Thursday. “The ninth inning has arrived. Fayetteville’s kids deserve a decision and a new high school.” Board member Becky Purcell, concerned that the sale price was too low, voted against the first motion. She noted the school’s high levels of academic performance as indicators that the current site was sufficient.
“Right now, we’ve got a solid building that is, at a minimum, adequately meeting our needs. If we sell it, we need to get out of it what it’s worth to us,” she said.
Purcell estimated the site’s value at $ 85 million, based on a $ 45 million insurance replacement cost for buildings and the high value of surrounding commercial properties. The board’s $ 59 million asking price, set in October, is an approximate mid-point between the university’s $ 56. 4 million appraisal and the district’s $ 61. 28 million appraisal. Other members argued it was necessary to determine the university’s interest before considering other site options. “We’re floundering,” board member John Delap said. “We’re not going anywhere until we say ‘ OK, big boys, what do you got ?’” UA trustees who toured the 1 high school for 2 / 2 hours in March expressed no formal intentions to buy the property. “We don’t want to appear that we’re about to pounce on the school,” Chancellor John A. White said after the tour. UA spokesman Steve Voorhies said Thursday that if the university receives a proposal from the school district, UA administrators would review it at that time.
The board voted unanimously to move forward with negotiations on the 88-acre site recommended by the site selection committee.
The committee recommended in April that the district purchase 88 acres in southeast Fayetteville between Huntsville Road and 15 th Street. The board examined 14 sites and toured eight parcels of land, considering price, accessibility and road conditions before making its decision.
A financial analysis by district Chief Financial Officer Lisa Morstad shows the Huntsville Road site will require a 3- to 5-mill increase to cover $ 110 million of construction and design costs, if the current high school site sells for $ 59 million and another parcel of district-owned property sells for $ 6. 2 million. Linda Ralston, a member of Build Smart, a group formed to oppose relocating the high school, said a decision that doesn’t win public favor will likely influence a millage vote necessary to finance new construction. “This millage is going down. I just feel it,” she said. “People are not ready for this to happen.” To contact this reporter: eblad@arkansasonline. com —————— • ——————Information for this article was contributed by Tracie Dungan of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
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