District 304 board wants input on Coultrap facility

Submitted by Geneva District 304

Geneva Unit District 304 Board of Education has scheduled a community forum Monday, Jan. 14, to provide updated information and to get further input from the community on the future of the Coultrap facility on Peyton Street before making its decision later this month.

In May, district officials presented board members with four options for the Coultrap facility, which has not been used as a school since the 2008-09 school year.

Three options would relocate the district’s administrative offices on Fourth Street to this facility and would require major repairs/renovations to exterior walls, plumbing and electrical systems, with costs ranging from $2,317,000 to $4,277,000.

These three options would then have an impact on the future of the Fourth Street building. The fourth option presented is to demolish the building at an estimated cost of $861,813 and maintain the district’s administrative offices at the Fourth Street facility.

It currently costs about $69,000 annually to operate Coultrap at a minimal level, and within the next three to five years the building will require major repairs estimated to cost $1,200,000 to $1,600,000 to bring it to proper working order.

The Superintendent’s Facility Task Force has recommended that the building be demolished, and board members would like any further input from neighbors and the community prior to making a decision.

The forum will be at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 14, at the Coultrap facility, 1113 Peyton St. (Lincoln Street entrance). Two similar forums to gather community input were held in June 2012. This may be the last public forum on this topic, as board members plan to make a decision regarding the future of the building prior to the end of January.

Those who are unable to attend the forum but would like to provide input may do so by emailing the board of education at board@geneva304.org.