BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio -- The Brecksville-Broadview Heights school board has decided to hold onto two parcels, totaling more than 26.5 acres, that the district owns off West Mill and Wallings roads, just west of Interstate 77.
The board has owned the property since 1975, according to the Cuyahoga County Fiscal Office website.
No one can say, at least without a little research, how the district came to own the land or why.
“Holding onto the property has done nothing but enrich us, so to speak, with the valuation, which mirrors what you see in this Brecksville-Broadview Heights community, where property values have been going up substantially,” board President Mark Dosen said at the board’s May 28 meeting.
According to three recent appraisals, the market value of the 26.5 acres has risen from $710,000 in 2018 to $815,000 in 2021 and to $895,000 in November 2022.
Dosen said the property costs practically nothing to maintain.
He said the district once had to remove a fallen tree from the land, for a fee, and also must pay a small property tax bill, which is less than $500 a year, for sewage.
Nevertheless, the school district has the options of selling the property or trading it to another public entity, like a city, Dosen said.
For example, the school district in 2018 approved a land-swap agreement with the City of Brecksville that gave the schools 25 acres on the municipally owned Blossom Hill property.
That’s where the district built a new elementary school.
In exchange, the district gave the City of Brecksville the 3.6-acre Central Elementary School property on Royalton Road and 10.5 acres on Stadium Drive.
Dosen said if the district sells the 26.5 acres, the proceeds legally would have to be used for capital improvements, such as new school buildings.
The money could not be used for operating expenses, such as teacher salaries.
Dosen said he favored keeping the land.
“While today we have no specific need for this property, you never know what’s going to come down the road,” Dosen said.
Dosen said the district can always sell the parcels if it someday experiences “tough financial times.”
Board members Tish Kwiatkowski, Eva O’Mara and Lisa Galek agreed with Dosen.
O’Mara said the schools should hold onto the property at least until the Ohio General Assembly decides how it will fund public schools over the next two years or so.
She said the political landscape is too unstable to decide whether to sell the land now.
However, board member Ellen Kramer cautioned that keeping the 26.5 acres also comes with risks. She said there’s no guarantee that the value will continue to appreciate.
Kramer added that if the city does hit hard financial times, it’s not a certainty that the district will be able to sell the land, at least not quickly.
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