Geneva school board plans to sell site once planned for bus parking

The Geneva school board is putting up for sale land where it once envisioned building bus storage, a maintenance garage and athletic fields.

On Monday night, the board directed the staff to start the process of selling 27 acres on the northwest corner of Brundige and Keslinger roads, including getting the land appraised.

The district bought it in 2006 for $1.5 million.

The district parks some of its buses at its middle schools. Board President Mark Grosso, who has pushed for the sale of the land, said he would want part of the proceeds used to find another place to park the buses, because he doesn’t think the middle-school site is secure enough.

Trustee Kelly Nowak asked what would be done with the money from the sale.

“You need to ask that question?” Assistant Superintendent for Business Donna Oberg responded with a laugh.

It would be used to pay debt, she said. The district owes $155 million in principal on bonds taken out for school construction and renovation.

Trustee Michael McCormick wants to know how much the district is spending for the site now, such as for upkeep.

When the district bought the land, officials thought it could be used for practice fields, especially to replace three it lost when it built Williamsburg Elementary School. Trustee Matt Henry said Monday that to do so, the district would have to install a stormwater retention area that would use up at least 30 percent of the land. Officials also intended to consolidate maintenance facilities, especially since they expected to lose space in an expansion of Geneva High School. That expansion has been postponed indefinitely.