Some members worry that talks with the landowner could break down if a lower price is sought.
By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published May 1, 2004
The School Board's aggressive push to build as many as eight schools over the coming decade has hit a potential snag.
The property where it has planned to open a new middle school in 2006 was appraised at far less than the $1.05-million board members agreed to pay. They have no other parcels under contract in the rapidly growing Spring Hill area, where schools are crowded beyond capacity.
With its land options limited and the need for additional seats unabated, the board still must decide how much it is willing to spend on the 30-acre site.
That is because after the agreement on a price, one appraiser valued the land, located off Northcliffe Boulevard behind the Springstead High School theater, at $750,000.
A second set the value at $600,000.
Possibly complicating matters, landowner Loren Hamm - who owns another 50 acres behind Oak Hill Hospital that the board is considering for a new high school - has proved to be a notoriously difficult negotiator.
It took district officials nearly a year to reach the $35,000-an-acre contract terms. And in the past, the eccentric octogenarian has been known to unexpectedly walk away from talks, never to return.
"We might expect further negotiations with him for any other property would be in jeopardy" if this deal collapses, said board member Jim Malcolm. Knowing all that, Malcolm and his colleagues remained noncommittal on just how crucial a role Hamm's holdings play in the district's construction plans.
"We need the property," board member John Druzbick said. "But we also don't want to pay extravagantly for it."
In many ways, the debate comes down to the board's definition of extravagant.
Druzbick and board member Robert Wiggins each noted that single-home lots throughout Spring Hill are selling well above their assessed value as they become more scarce. As homes increase, they added, so does the demand for schools.
"And you know how hard it is to find 30 acres in Spring Hill," Wiggins said.
Further, Malcolm said, once a school is built and operating, values escalate in the surrounding area, quickly catching up to the sale price.
"The School Board has to figure out whether the property has more value for it as a school," Malcolm said. "The market value and the appraised value can be quite different."
When they meet Tuesday, board members are scheduled to tell the administration how to proceed. In separate interviews, they indicated a desire to go back to Hamm, appraisals in hand, and ask for a price at least matching the higher one.
Hamm could accept the counterproposal, stand firm or pay for another appraisal. His representative plans to meet with district planning director Heather Martin and board lawyer Karen Gaffney on Thursday.
Board members hope that the sides could reach a middle ground.
"I feel a little uncomfortable at buying it for more than the appraised value," Wiggins said.
Chairwoman Sandra Nicholson said she, too, would "rather not" exceed the appraisal by much. She was not ready to declare the deal dead, though, as the board has done with other properties that seemed usable until talks foundered.
"It's an open negotiation at this point," Nicholson said.
