City Council has done their part. Now the School District needs to step up.
Late last month, the School District made a “firm and non-negotiable final offer” to the City to purchase Oppenlander. The closing time in that offer was unreasonable (weeks) and we need the School District to be more reasonable and flexible. The City made a counter offer on Friday 4/4– at the District’s full asking sales price – with a request to allow additional closing time for reasonable diligence.
The School Board is meeting Monday 4/7 to consider the full-price counteroffer with a closing date extension. We need the public to weigh in and ask the Board to approve this extension. Click here and we will create an email pre-addressed to the Board. One more click and it’s sent – and better yet, change the subject a little so it doesn’t look like a form letter and add your personal thoughts in the body of the email before sending.
There is not enough funding to purchase all of Oppenlander at the District’s asking price. We have worked with the City and ICON Construction on a public-private partnership to save about a third of Oppenlander, including one senior-sized baseball field (one of only two in the City), the installation of running water bathrooms, a play structure, and to save some of the trees. ICON will be subsidizing the park reconfiguration and some of the improvements. Friends of Oppenlander will use the extension time to fundraise to expand the trees saved and also to potentially expand the park size. The balance of the property will be developed by ICON.
This downsized proposal is consistent with today’s economy and represents a reasonable compromise. While not what we all wanted, this compromise is consistent with the heart of community’s desire to save Oppenlander.
The City is proposing a firm signed and binding contract with a deposit. It will execute a contract with the District and simultaneously another with ICON. All three parties will be formally obligated. This extension costs the District nothing and allows it to show the deposit cash as a Reserve asset, and the pending sale cash as an asset on its books as they close this fiscal year, another goal of theirs.
The District has stated that the Oppenlander funds will be transferred from the Land Banking account to a Reserve account. As such, those funds are not committed or needed for immediate spending so a delay until later in the year to close the sale does not affect School District operations. The District has already acknowledged this longer due diligence close provision would be necessary for any developer that the District would sell the property to if the City did not buy it.
The Board’s Monday meeting is in Executive Session so we cannot attend. Your emails are the only way our voices can be heard. Please take 60 seconds to let your voice be heard.
YOUR ACTION will help to save as much of Oppenlander as is practical …
Click to Send an email to the WLWV School Board by mid-day Monday if you want to assure Board members see it before their meeting.
Best regards,
The Friends of Oppenlander team
WITH YOUR HELP WE CAN STILL SAVE SOME OF OPPENLANDER! Preserve and extend Oppenlander’s 40+ year legacy of community park, senior baseball fields, add a new playground and restrooms. While there will be some development, we don’t lose the entire park or all of the trees. Without your help, and a School Board cloisng date extension, it will all become homes.
