District 204 starting over with Metea Valley plans

Indian Prairie Unit District 204 officials say they are going back to the drawing board to explore options for building Metea Valley High School.

Where to build it, how to build it and even whether to build it at all are under discussion, they said Thursday.

Questions about the district's approach to building a third high school arose after its condemnation trial ended Wednesday with a jury deciding Indian Prairie would owe roughly $17 million more than what it offered property owners for 55 acres off Route 59 near 75th Street and Commons Drive in Aurora.

The district wanted to pay about $250,000 an acre for the property owned by the Brach-Brodie trust. The jury put the value at $518,000 an acre.

In light of the unexpected price tag, the district has several avenues it can pursue, including buying the land at the higher price, appealing the verdict, choosing a different site for the school, or not building a third high school at all.

"We need to consider what the options are and the ramifications and consequences of those options," school board President Mark Metzger said Thursday. "Nothing is guaranteed to be on the table and nothing is guaranteed to be off the table."

The school board will meet at 7 p.m. Monday to discuss the issue in closed session. It will not take any formal action that night but legally must open the meeting for public comment.

District 204, which includes portions of Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield, had hoped to purchase the 55 acres in question and combine it with 25 acres it already owns on the site to build a facility to ease overcrowding at Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools.

When it was not able to agree on a fair price with the property owners, it filed a condemnation suit and left it up to a jury to determine the cost.

After a week of testimony and eight hours of deliberation, the jury unanimously agreed Wednesday that the land is worth $28.5 million. It also awarded property owners an additional $2.5 million to make up for loss of value to the remaining 70.9 acres at the site.

The price is more than double the school district's offer of $13.75 million.

If the district decides it wants to purchase the land at the price the jury set, it has 30 days to make a payment and then can take immediate possession of the property.

It also can ask for a new trial or file an appeal, but both those options would be time-consuming. The district has said it wants to open Metea in the fall of 2009.

Board member Alka Tyle called the verdict "a big blow" to the district. She and Metzger both said they need more information before they can say what they think is the best option.

"As a board, it is our responsibility to use the taxpayers' money wisely," Tyle said. "We can't use more money than what we have and we don't want to have to dip into general funds, so our responsibility is to look at whatever options are out there."

Board member Christine Vickers, a longtime opponent of building Metea, said officials also should study enrollment figures, which she said are lower than the district predicted when it sought its 2006 tax increase for the school.

"Certainly it's our fiduciary responsibility not to just look at this once in a while and make sure we're going in the right direction," Vickers said. "We have a duty to the public to make sure what we do is in accordance with the data."

In 2006, voters approved a $124.7 million tax increase to build Metea, amid concerns the district's enrollment would cause overcrowding at Neuqua and Waubonsie.

Construction on the 3,000-student facility was supposed to begin this spring.

As delays continue, costs are rising, but the school board has promised it will not ask residents for another tax increase to pay for the school.

Metzger said the district has additional money it can use for the project from interest and land cash donations. He expects to find out how much additional money is available when the school board meets Monday.