Shawano School District residents voted Dec. 9 against purchasing 20 acres of land east of Shawano Community High School.
The vote was 15-10 and was held at a special meeting of the electorate as required by state law.
The only designation for the land was a statement that it would be considered for “future use,” and that’s what residents questioned.
“I’ve heard in the community that you want to build a new middle school,” said resident Linda Vandeloo. “Where the middle school is now you have plenty of property to keep the school open that’s there now, rebuild the school there. You’ve got the woods there. You’ve got property that runs from the middle school to Olga Brener that’s never used. There’s plenty of room to rebuild a school there and reconfigurate that whole thing.”
She also questioned, if the district did build a new middle school near the high school, what would become of the middle school site.
“What are you going to do when the middle school is gone and that whole big huge property there is not used?” she asked.
Superintendent Kurt Krizan clarified that the district had no specific use in mind for the land. He also said the district had a first right of refusal, meaning that when the seller agrees to a purchase price with a buyer, the district has the opportunity to buy the land for the same amount.
The 20 acres is owned by Mike Zingler and his siblings. The purchase price is $531,000.
“It does give us options,” board member John Arens said about the land purchase. “We put a date out there of 2032 when we were going to sunset the middle school.
“It’s a great investment. There’s only so much land in the world. Property does not decrease in value.
“It would not be prudent on our part to just pass on our first right of refusal on this.”
Fellow board member Karen Houston pointed out the district is landlocked to the east of the high school.
“We would lose that opportunity, and we’re probably never going to get that back,” said board member Bobbi Lemerond.
Board member Tim Renard said rarely does a piece of property this size become available that is also contiguous to an existing school.
“It’s an extension of where we’re at,” he said. “There are so many advantages to us having that property that give us flexibility in the future as to what we want to do. It’s important to keep that in front of us.”
He acknowledged Vandeloo’s concerns about what would happen to the existing middle school land, but he said it’s hard to turn away from this opportunity.
Zingler said the 20 acres includes a house, barn and outbuildings as well as agriculture land and agricultural forest.
Board member Christine McKinnies, speaking as a resident and not a board member, read a letter from the other buyer, which Zingler earlier said was Dan Hartwig.
The Hartwig family intends to use it as a residence.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
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