Talks begin on four possible sites for Metea
Indian Prairie Unit District 204 is beginning negotiations on four possible sites for its proposed Metea Valley High School.
President Mark Metzger said Tuesday the school board has weighed the advantages and disadvantages of each of the possible locations. He would not say whether the four sites include the Brach-Brodie property in Aurora, which the district has long targeted for the school.
"All four of the options we're still considering and now beginning negotiations on are all capable of allowing us to remain within budget parameters that we committed to Oct. 1," Metzger said.
The district has been evaluating its options since a jury last month decided the 55-acre Brach-Brodie site off Route 59 near 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora is worth $31 million -- or about $17 million more than the district believed it to be.
Indian Prairie, which includes portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield, already owns 25 acres at the site and hoped to purchase the additional land to build an 80-acre campus for Metea.
District officials say the third high school is necessary to relieve overcrowding at Neuqua and Waubonsie Valley high schools.
Because the district could not reach an agreement on price with the Brach-Brodie trust, the decision was put in the hands of a jury, which said the land is worth about $518,00 an acre, more than double the district's estimate of $250,000 an acre.
Construction on the 3,000-student facility was supposed to begin this past spring with an eye toward having the school ready to open in fall 2009. Officials have said the projected cost rises with each delay in the start of construction.
The district has until Oct. 27 to decide whether it will purchase the Brach-Brodie land. If it does, it will have to pay interest at a rate of $5,100 a day for each day it took to decide.
If it doesn't purchase the property, it will have to pay the Brach-Brodie trust's legal fees, estimated to be more than $4 million. It also would have to offer to sell the 25 acres it already owns back to the trust for the same price it originally paid -- about $6.4 million.
The school board already has promised it will not ask taxpayers for additional money for the project above the $124.7 million tax increase voters approved in a 2006 referendum.
Metzger has said the district has an extra $17 million to $20 million from land-cash donations, bond proceeds and interest that can be used toward the school if necessary.
The board has scheduled another meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Crouse Education Center, 780 Shoreline Drive, Aurora. The meeting will primarily take place behind closed doors and will open only for public comment.
It also tentatively scheduled a meeting for 11 a.m. Saturday if necessary.
The next regularly scheduled business meeting is at 7 p.m. Monday. Metzger could not say whether the board will be ready to take action at that time.