Kaneland paying off Maple Park school site

The Kaneland School District plans to make its final payment on an elementary school site in Maple Park this year.

The district will make its final two annual payments early on the $222,000 site on County Line Road and Washington Street in the village.

By doing so, the district will save $4,000 in interest, said Tom Runty, assistant superintendent for business.

When the district bought the 15-acre site in 1999, officials weren't sure how quickly land-cash fees from developments would come in, he said.

But the district's fund now stands at about $650,000, more than enough to cover the approximate $81,000 remaining on the contract.

The next big project for the money in the land-cash fund will be an addition to the high school when it is needed, Runty said.

Officials want to use that money for the high school because every town will benefit from it, as opposed to an elementary school that would cater to a specific area, he said.

Without any growth in the district, the high school building will be at capacity in four years, Superintendent Charles McCormick said.

An addition to Blackberry Creek Elementary School will be the only elementary component of a $65 million referendum on the February ballot.

Runty didn't want to estimate when a school would be built on the Maple Park site.

The district also owns an elementary school site in Sugar Grove in the Settlers Ridge subdivision.