Thursday, March 28, 2024

School Board decides to surplus 5.5 acres in Beaver Valley

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The Cascade School Board has made the controversial decision to surplus the 5.5 acres of land, which is next to the Beaver Valley School in Plain. The Lake Wenatchee Fire and Rescue had expressed an interest in the property to expand their existing fire station, which is adjacent to the school. The nearby Hill Street residents have opposed this potential sale and encouraged the school district to not surplus or sell the property.
At previous school board meetings, both sides, sometimes emotionally, had expressed their views on the potential sale of the land. Even though both LWFR staff and volunteers, along with Hill Street residents packed the board meeting on June 25, there was not a repeat of the emotional outbursts.
Cascade Superintendent Bill Motsenbocker explained to those gathered how the Beaver Valley School is funded and how that factors into potentially surplussing the land.
“I would like to take us back a bit to understand that Beaver Valley is a Remote and Necessary school, which means there is some criteria you have to maintain in order for that school to be funded. The Leavenworth School District consolidated with Peshastin and Dryden, bringing the PD school into the school district,” Motsenbocker said. “When you look at how the state views school funding, Cascade actually qualified for one, large elementary school. In our district, we’ve decided to maintain the PD school and one elementary in Leavenworth. It is more expensive, but that is what we want to do.”
The levy dollars actually help the district keep more than one elementary, Motsenbocker said. He said when they were campaigning for the school bond, Peshastin and Dryden residents told them they would not vote for the bond if their school was closed.
“We do two schools when the state recognizes our district is a one elementary district. The Beaver Valley School is actually funded as a Remote and Necessary School funding policy,” Motsenbocker said. “If the school ever exceeds 60 students for two years in a row, we would lose funding for that school. It can never be bigger. One of the reasons we’ve discussed surplussing the Beaver Valley property, which is a little over five acres, is because it is sitting there empty and is an asset to the district that is not being utilized.”
The purpose of the resolution before the board is only to determine whether this is excess property and should be classified as surplus, he said. That does not mean the board has to sell it. It just means if the board ever decides to sell it, that particular process has already happened.
Motsenbocker said he has received lots of letters and emails over the past months from residents of the Lake Wenatchee, White River, Plain area, asking what happens if there is a big explosion of population up there someday?
“It (letter and emails) said the school district is flat or slightly increasing in enrollment but the Leavenworth Fire and Rescue said their calls have increased significantly. There seems to be a discrepancy there. Student enrollment and growth in population are necessarily the same thing,” Motsenbocker said. “Some locations attract people that like to retire there, sometimes they attract families without kids, sometimes they do. The cohort survival numbers we get from the state say (enrollment) fairly level with a slight increase.”
If the school district was in a metropolitan area or somewhere like Wenatchee, those numbers might be the same, but when you get into recreational areas, sometimes it is not the same, he said.
The discussion the board needs to have is, do we need the excess property to run our K-12 program?, he said.
Board member Trey Ising said current enrollment is 30 at Beaver Valley with the potential to have 60. There was actually a decrease from last year.
“Let’s say we get a big bump, we could add to additional classrooms to the building. There is still plenty of property to use. Remember, we moved that fence back to create more space. The community is building an eco-playground and there is still plenty of room for that,” Motsenbocker said. “It could still take two more classrooms, two more teachers. We could go up to 60 students or stay below so we don’t lose funding.”
Motsenbocker said they would have to be above 60 students for two years before they would lose funding. The district would simply shuttle some kids into town to avoid that.
Board member Carrie Sorensen asked how many kids are turned away that want to go to Beaver Valley? Motsenbocker said it has been less that four students.
“There are zones one, two and three. The families that live on Stevens Pass, they’re commute would be the farthest to Leavenworth for school, so they have priority one. The closer you get to the school or Plain, the less you actually have. It’s an odd system. You could live across from the school and not be able to go there,” Motsenbocker said.
Motsenbocker asked each of the school board members to offer an opinion on surplussing the land.
“I’ve been on the board for two years and I didn’t even know we owned property. In my little world, it does not seem necessary,” said Board President Brenda Biebesheimer.
Carrie Sorensen said, as the Lake Wenatchee representative, she knows the history of the property. She hoped, in running their K-12 program, the district does not need the property.
“I do want to protect the fact that as a community, a school board, we have promised to have green space available for the community,” Sorensen said. “I don’t know whether we provide that green space or whether somebody else provides it and maintains it without the school district cost. If we do surplus the property, we do get to call those kinds of shots. I would be willing to surplus only if we negotiated keeping an acre of green space to be true to the promise to the community.”
That would only come to pass if the district choses to sell it, Ising said in response, surplussing is different that selling it.  
“I just want to be on record to say, if we chose to surplus it, I will stay on the board and fight long and hard to make sure that happens,” Sorensen said.
Board member Cindy Puckett said she has lived here all her life and never realized the district has as much extra property up there.
“I’m realizing to surplus it and specify what it can and can’t be used for, if we do chose to sell it. There should be restrictions, just like anything else. We should leave an acre,” Puckett said.
Ising was straightforward in his statement.
“As far as I’m concerned, it is surplus. We don’t need it. We have enough problems, budget wise, maintaining fields. To add more fields, and transport field maintenance crews from here to there, I don’t know we could ever do that as a district,” Ising said.
Motsenbocker said he and Julie Winters looked at the board minutes at the time the property was acquired. They had a couple priorities at the time, building a covered play area and cover bus garage.
“The development of that property was based on the bond, which actually failed. Technically, since the bond failed, all that goes away as well,” Motsenbocker said. “The community rallied and did the covered play area for kids, which was wonderful. We determined, we really didn’t need the covered parking for the bus. The board minutes also indicated, the size of the play field was one to two acres. The minimum was one acre.”
There was speculation this meant a full sized baseball and soccer field, Motsenbocker said, but this is not the case. It is green space of one to two acres.
Ising asked if the green space includes the green space on the attached parcel. It goes without saying, Motsenbocker responded.
“If the board determined that you did want to sell it and went through the process of the hearing and all the things required by state law, it would be fair to say a purchase and sale agreement would say a portion of that would have to be developed into green space for play fields for youth specifying a minimum amount that would be acceptable,” Motsenbocker said.
Motsenbocker then addressed the audience, very much narrowing the scope of what they could talk about. That pretty much kept everyone quiet.
“I know we have people in the audience who came specifically to hear this. If you could limit your discussion to whether we need it for our K-12 program or we don’t. I will give people in the audience a chance to speak on it as long as the discussion is within that parameter,” Motsenbocker said. “There will be a later time, if we have hearings, to discuss other aspects of it. We’re not looking at selling it right this minute, but this is first step to be able to sell it.”
The board voted unanimously to surplus the land.
Call 548-5286 or editor@leavenworthecho.com.

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