The purchase of two sites chosen for new schools may be completed soon.
School officials said that deals to buy land for the proposed 900-student schools in Forestville and on Chippens Hill are nearly resolved.
“Hopefully the sun will shine on this issue,” said school Superintendent Philip Streifer.
The city is pushing the $130 million plan to create two new kindergarten to eighth grade schools that would replace four older buildings. The project is slated for completion in 2015.
Tom O’Brien, a Board of Education member, said the city is likely to finish the purchase of the former Crowley auto dealership next week. The Pine Street site is next door to Greene-Hills School, one of the four targeted for closure.
O’Brien said there is only one issue to resolve before the $2.25 million deal can be completed.
The other school site, on the corner of Matthews Street and Clark Avenue, should also be in the city’s hands soon, officials said.
Chris Wilson, who serves on the West Bristol School Building Committee, said it’s in nearly the same place as the Forestville committee that includes O’Brien.
The West Bristol site’s price tag isn’t as clear, but records submitted to the City Council last fall showed preliminary estimate that the 27 acres would cost $1.7 million.
The state would pick up 74 percent of the tab as long as the project isn’t derailed for failing to come in on time.
There is a June 2010 deadline for beginning construction that almost certainly won’t be met. The city is eyeing a possible extension to give it another year to get started
Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
27 comments:
Collins:
Where did you go to "scool" (sic)?
LOL, thanks for the info.
Oh and BTW, this project is a wasteful scheme. Too bad the people on the BOE or the BOF didn't have any back-bone.
NO MEGA SCHOOLS!!!!!! Tell the BOE 1985 called and wants its mega school back...........
Why buy the land if we are not going to build the schools. Taxpayers cannot afford this in Bristol.
We cannot afford not to !!!
NO MEGA-LIARS!!!!!! This is not a mega-school, it's a medium-sized school. Do your homework.
Are they crazy? Building schools when people are losing jobs left and right? Talk about being out of touch with reality! "We can't afford not to"? LMAO Maybe 3:55 can pay my taxes while I try to keep shoes on my kids' feet and put food on the table while looking for a job.
To Concerned Conservative -
I think they do have back bones - they didn't cave to the rantings of the bloggers.
This is a good move for Bristol.
We can't keep pouring good money into structures which have outlived their financial payback and now have high maintenance costs.
I'll never buy another car from Ken Crowley! He could have donated the land for a very good cause. The guy has made millions and expanded to several locations, largely in part because the citizens of Bristol have supported his car dealerships for the past 25+ years. The very least he could have done was give back to the community. Especially since it is for the kids and future of our Town. I thinkits very selfish if you ask me. He should be ashamed to accept $2 million dollars for the property. Especially since he knows it is worthless to a commercial venture, otherwise it would have been purchased a long time ago! At the very least he could have lowered the price by a hefty amount as a good gesture. Karma is a bitch.
Does anyone know - or care to venture a guess - as to what one of these schools will do to surrounding property value?
I own a condominium in close vicinity to the Clark Ave/Matthews St site and am curious.
A shiny brand new, state of the art school near your property? Expect your property value to go up.
8:22 - evidently you believe that this time that we are in hasn't affected Mr. Crowley and his car business? You should take your lips off the exhaust pipe and breathe some fresh air.
A Cities education system is the bidggest overall factor in affecting property values. A desireable system increases values, city wide.
"We can't keep pouring good money into structures which have outlived their financial payback..."
-What a bunch of bureaucratic hyperbole (aka BS).
"...and now have high maintenance costs."
-These "costs" are more than $150 million? You've been drinking the cool-aide. In other words these fools on The BOE, etc. have been brainwashed (what little they have to begin with).
-In these tough economic times, the state should halt these radical fiscal promises thus eneding this radical fiscal folly.
REMBER SOME PEOPLE JUST HAVE NO THE DESIRE TO LEARN OR WORK. Walk around bristol all they want is drugs and sex.
Shiny new schools do not give you a good school system. It's much more important to have good teachers and administrators. People who demand new schools in this economy have no compassion for those of us who are laid off. That makes them poor role models for our children. It won't do our kids any good to see how greedy these people are. It's sad.
THIS IS THE PITS WATCHING OUR POLITIANS COWAR UNDER . POOR POOR LEADERSHIP.
12:24 ~ IF YOUR SPELLING IS A RESULT OF ATTENDING ONE OF THE PRESENT SCHOOLS, THAN YOU ARE ONE OF THE BEST ARGUMENTS FOR BUILDING NEW ONES!
Where is loud mouth Cockayne??? That's right this isn't a city union issue.
He has the nerve to say he isn't anti-union but pro taxpayer...what a joke. Start fighting for all taxpayers.
This new school plan should not go forward in these tough economic times. Bristol cannot afford it and the state cannot afford it.
Where is our city council???
Everytime there is a city union issue or a city union contract councilman Cockayne is there to complain and make his position known. Now there is a major issue facing Bristol taxpayers he has nothing to say about it?...and he claims to be for the taxpayers.
If this was a union contract he would be out in force to fight against it but it is not and he will not fight for us taxpayers.
We can only hope Bristol residents see him for who he really is at eletion time. HYPOCRITE!!!
"People who demand new schools in this economy have no compassion for those of us who are laid off."
The taxpayers didn't lay you off, your boss did. Don't cheat our kids out of a good education because of this temporary economic crisis which will be gone by the time they break ground anyway.
Friends:
My name is Richard Scarola, I am going to introduce my self on this board to keep you informed of where I stand on the issues. I am running for City Councilman in the 2nd District this year. Especially since the wonderful news of our citywide SAT scores trailing the state, I believe some of my education stances are right on. You can read my blog at: http://citycouncildistrict2.blogspot.com/. You can also search my name to read my online Bristol Press article. I also invite you to Facebook and twitter me. I welcome all comments and concerns. I would like to what is on the mind of my district (and the city). Or, just drop in to say "Hi." I will be starting my door to door soon and I will be hosting some meet and greets. I look forward to seeing and hearing from you soon. Thank you. Richard
Do we know when the economy will improve? Do we know how much worse it will get before it gets better? IMHO we haven't seen anything yet. Stock up on the canned goods.
The shiny new schools can wait until we pull out of this. They will not improve education on their own anyway. Why don't our educators show us what they can do with what they have? It would be nice if there was some impovement first,and their new workplaces could be a reward for a job well done. In other words, they should EARN these new schools that they want.
Ya lets buys some more land and then have out "leaders" (State & Local) discover that we can't afford this. Then we can be stuck with some more vacant lanf that we will lose tax revenue on and never use it....just like the Mall!!
WE NEED LEADERSHIP NOT SCHOOLS.
Do we know when will the economy improve? Yes. It will either improve in a couple of years, or we will be living in the New Dark Ages. I'm betting it's the former. Therefore, it is smart to buy the land now and construct the two new schools in a couple of years, which is what our leaders are doing. You got a better plan? Doing nothing is not a plan.
I guess Odin knows better than the national experts. The truth is that no one can reliably predict when the economy will get better. If it gets worse, there will be a long recovery period. Call it the "New Dark Ages" or any other name you can dream up, but it's not a time to blow your money. The plan: hold on tight, ride out the storm, watch out for your neighbor, and consider what will need taking care of first when the skies brighten. Our priorities are likely to change in the meantime.
You mean the "national experts" who got us into this mess? Yeah, I think I know better than them. You probably do too.
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