High anxiety over high price of land

When Indian Prairie Unit District 204 decided there was no place else to build its new Metea Valley High School than on the Brach-Brodie property, it put all its eggs in one basket.

Now a jury has scrambled those eggs pretty thoroughly.

District 204 was hoping, if not confident, that it could buy that property at or near its established figure of $250,000 an acre. When the owners said no to that price, the district went to condemnation, hoping a jury would share its thinking on the value of the land.

The verdict is in, and the price tag is sending sticker shock throughout the district. The jury decided District 204 must pay more than double what it has offered if it wants that Brach-Brodie land for the high school.

Which means that if the district ultimately decides to buy the land at the jury's price, it will have just over $90 million to build a new high school, from the $124.7 million voters approved for such in a 2006 referendum. The district was banking on having more than that to construct the school itself.

Or, the school district could appeal. But this could have costly consequences if an appellate court doesn't adjust the price of the land downward even as the cost of construction would certainly continue to increase during an appeal. And an appeal would consume time that can't be squandered, with construction scheduled to begin this spring. If it does appeal, the district better hope its lawyers and witnesses are more persuasive with a panel of judges than they were with jurors. They also awarded the property owners an additional $2.5 million to make up loss in land value.

The district could look for a cheaper site. But it has argued all along, with reason, that the Brach-Brodie land is the ideal site. Yet Wednesday's jury ruling should inject a sense of urgency that was missing earlier in looking at possible alternative sites.

One thing is certain. The district has vowed not to ask taxpayers for any more money for the high school, and it has to honor that pledge. And it might not be problematic to build one for $90 million, if that's what it comes down to, because the district might not need as much space as initially anticipated, if board member Christine Vickers is right. She says enrollment figures are lower than the district predicted before the 2006 referendum. If that's true, the jury verdict could wind up being a blessing in disguise, if it leads to a building project that doesn't waste space and money.

But if everything stays the same -- the enrollment data that led the district to decide to build a new high school, and the Brach-Brodie land as the only place to build it, at the purchase price set by a jury, then District 204 will have to put its hope in financial managers and architects. They'll have to find a way to build a new high school that is close to being equitable with existing District 204 high schools as possible.

Not an enviable position. But the district can avoid this in future building projects by simply having a contract for land in hand before asking for money to build a school.