Jasper Redevelopment Commission to begin negotiations with school corporation for Parklands property

The City of Jasper will be sending a proposal to the Greater Jasper Consolidated School Corporation that includes an option for the corporation to purchase 10 acres of The Parklands.

The Jasper Redevelopment Commission voted 4-1 to send the proposal after it is reviewed by the Jasper Common Council. The version presented to the commission today included a two-year option to purchase and a ten-year option.

Last January, the school corporation agreed to allow the city to proceed as the lead agency in negotiations to purchase about 60 acres of the former-Jasper Country Club property. The city and school each paid for the one of the two state required appraisals of the property as part of the agreement.

During a January 2013 school board meeting, the board agreed they were interested in up to 15 acres of The Parklands but did not disclose any plans for the land’s use.

In March of 2013, the city finalized the purchase of nearly 59 acres of the land for $17,344.50 per acre.

The current proposal gives the school corporation a two-year option to purchase 10 acres of land on the park’s western border adjacent to school-owned property. The purchase price being offered to the school is the same price the city paid for the land in March.

If the school corporation does not finalize a purchase in the two years, the city will have the property reappraised before selling to the school corporation.

The area shares three of the properties existing borders on the north, south and west sides, the eastern border follows the existing cart path for the majority of its length and then encompasses the cart path as the border follows the natural land features on the southwest corner.

The Jasper Redevelopment Commission agreed the 10 acres was more palatable than the 15 acres the school corporation originally stated they were interested in purchasing. In identifying the acreage for the sale, CityVisions felt the area designated for the sale would have the least impact on the overall aesthetics of the park.

Members of the city, redevelopment commission and the school corporation met in January to discuss how to move forward with the purchase. According to City Attorney Renee Kabrick, although the school corporation has not seen the finalized offer, they are amiable to the terms outlined in it.

The commission approved City Attorney Renee Kabrick finalizing the plans — including sending the offer to the Jasper Common Council members to garner input on the terms of the proposed deal — and then submitting it to the school corporation for their consideration. The Jasper Redevelopment Commission owns The Parklands and can sell the property but felt it was important to include the council in all of the decisions in regards its disposition.

Discussion at the redevelopment commission meeting today centered around the original agreement with the school corporation. Board member John Kahle stated he felt the redevelopment commission should honor the original verbal agreement and just offer the property to the school corporation in an outright sale rather than option to purchase. The other board members felt the option to purchase was appropriate since the school doesn’t have an official plan for its development.

Kahle was the lone dissenting vote directing Kabrick to finalize the purchase option contract for submission to the school corporation. He stated he agreed with the ten acres as it was proposed but disagreed with the option to purchase.

Louisville-based CityVisions — the firm responsible for The Parklands development plan as well as the Downtown/Riverfront Master Plan — recommended the ten acres as an area that could be sold to the school corporation without any major impact on The Parklands development. They did identify the southwestern corner of the property as a promising area for parking and access to the park in their plan.

The school corporation has not disclosed any official plans for the property but the commission shared that the school was interested in the land for any future expansion of the high school property.

“We discussed that there would not be a classroom building or a football stadium,” Kabrick told the commission today. “The idea was that this property is then available for the schools if the high school would need to be expanded. If the high school needs to be expanded, chances are that other facilities bordering the property would need to be moved further east.”

The school corporation has stated whatever their plans, the area could be used by the public for shared parking and access to the park.