The Salt Lake City Board of Education is poised to vote on whether to sell the old Douglas School, raising concerns with neighbors.
The 85-year-old former elementary is leased to Valley Mental Health. Valley houses a behavioral disorders treatment program for district students, after-school programs, plus a public preschool and a private school and mental health program for kindergartners through second-graders with autism, said Ann Foster, Valley director of children's services. In all, about 240 students use the school, 668 S. 1300 East.
The building needs repairs, however, including roof and seismic upgrades, said school board president Kathy Black. And the board questions whether it should stretch a tight budget to cover those costs or sell it.
"We would like to get out from under it," Black said Friday. "We can't see any reason to keep it if there are some buyers out there. The only perimeter is we have to get fair market value for the property."
An appraiser was to assess that value, Black said. A draft proposal presented to the board in January 1999 said the board could lease the property for 50 years for at least $850,000. The 3.7-acre site has 30,800 square feet of building space.
The board votes on the matter in a 7 p.m. Tuesday meeting at Bonneville Elementary, 1145 S. 1900 East.
But community concerns expressed 18 months ago remain. Some neighbors say the campus's parklike area preserves community unity and precious green space. They also are worried that selling the property would bring increased traffic.
"There just isn't a place to go play a pick-up game of baseball with neighborhood kids except right there," said neighbor Don Gren, father of two. "It seems short-sighted to sell a piece of property for money that will be spent and then gone. You can never replace a piece of ground again."
Black said the board has no buyer in mind but did ask whether the city had land to swap (it doesn't). The school board is seeking land for two new schools in the growth-heavy west side.
About 18 months ago, Valley Mental Health unsuccessfully sought to purchase the land. The donor working with Valley at the time has since purchased land elsewhere for a school for autistic children. Now, the organization worries selling the property could be ill-timed and that students could be in limbo before the new facility is ready or another located.
"We would certainly prefer to continue to lease," Foster said. "But if the school district decides to sell the property, we would, of course, be willing to talk with them about purchase."
Judge Memorial Catholic High School also is interested in leasing or purchasing the property. It has pondered increasing green space for a regulation soccer field and developing an indoor recreation facility, including a gymnasium, weight training and aerobics rooms for school and community use, said the Rev. John Norman, the school's president.
Student parking, a problem for Judge, would not be a priority for the land.
"We do not have a plan; we have an idea," he said. "If we were able to present that or gain access to the land, we would evolve our idea. And our idea also would include representation from the neighborhood in design or development of a proposal."
Both entities say they would be happy to work with the Utah Heritage Foundation, which, like neighbors, wants to preserve the neighborhood icon and open space. The school and its neighborhood are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, a designation that comes with tax incentives to rehabilitate the building.
"The Douglas School really deserves a new owner that can respect the building and rehabilitate it for another 100 years of life," said Kirk Huffaker, community services director for the nonprofit Utah Heritage Foundation. "We would be happy to work with a new owner on long-term protection of the building and open space, like the school board has suggested."
E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com