Dist. 204 settles with Brach-Brodie Trust
With no fanfare, the Indian Prairie Unit District 204 school board approved a final settlement agreement over legal fees with the Brach-Brodie Trust.
“This finalizes a very long process and is consistent with the message that was put out to our public,” Superintendent Kathy Birkett said.
The agreement is the result of a November court decision that determined District 204 owed an additional $2.7 million in legal fees incurred by the Brach-Brodie Trust during the district’s failed attempt to acquire property from the trust for Metea Valley High School.
The district previously had posted a $3.2 million deposit with the court for legal fees, which brings the total amount of the Brach-Brodie Trust legal fees to roughly $5.9 million.
District officials anticipated the cost and last year set aside money to pay for it. Birkett said taxpayers’ bills will not change as a result of the settlement.
The legal proceedings date to 2005 when the district filed a condemnation suit to acquire 55 acres at 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora. The district already owned 25 acres next to the site and hoped to use the property to house 3,000 students at a new Metea Valley.
But a jury set the price of the Brach-Brodie land at $31 million, or about $17 million more than the district expected.
Another site was chosen, the new high school opened along Eola Road and the district has put its 25-acre property originally intended for Metea up for sale.
“This precedes most of us here,” board President Curt Bradshaw said of the lengthy ordeal. “(The settlement) means closure and finality, certainly regarding the financial impact of this project.”
The board and attorneys worked out the final details of the settlement, including agreements that there will be no appeals, during a session that was closed to the public. Without discussion, the board later voted unanimously Monday in open session for the settlement.
Final signatures still are required, but no further action from the board is expected.
“It’s formalities at this point,” Bradshaw said.