Thursday, March 28, 2024

Council considers acquisition of Osborn School

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Having received the appraisal report from the school district, council members had a lively debate about how to finance the deal.

The appraisal reflects a market value of $719,000 but goes on to say the building is nearing the end of its useful life and will require extensive investment to address issues of delayed maintenance. Specifically, the report suggests the roof, windows, plumbing and electrical will require extensive work. For its part, the city would require a payment to Cascade School District of $619,000 after applying the School Districts commitment to pay the city $100,000 for moving the skate park to Enchantment Park.

The School district took out the Skate Park that was previously on High School property to utilize the ground for the new high school building. The city was then obligated to pay the original state grant back if they didn’t reconstruct the park in another location. The school district agreed to credit the $100,000 back to the city when they sold the Osborn property.

Besides the $619,000 the city will have to pay the school district for the property, city staff estimates the repair costs and fees for the visioning study will bring the total acquisition to $730,000. Two accounts will provide the funds needed to complete the acquisition. Funds from the sale of the golf course properties will provide $430,000 the remaining $300,000 will come from the REET fund account. REET funds come from an excise tax on the sale of real estate in the city. Those funds can only be used for capital improvements or maintenance under state law. The current balance in the REET fund is $1,066, 303.

Th visioning study costs are for hiring a facilitator to conduct a study of how the community wants the facility to be used if it is acquired by the city.

The debate over the financing plan arose when Council woman Sharon Waters objected to the removal of restrictions on the use of the golf course funds which precluded the use of those funds unless they were used for park space or land for recreational use by citizens of the city of Leavenworth. Waters was concerned that once the restrictions were removed the concept of preserving the Osborn property for park space could be lost. Waters eventually voted to approve the release of the restrictions on the use of the golf course funds.

The Osborn property currently consists of 2.68 acres including a playground and 25,328 square foot building previously utilized as an elementary school.

At this time no clear estimate of annual maintenance costs have been considered as part of the decision. City Administrator, Ana Cortez, said in an interview that she believed the annual costs would be approximately $30,000.

Residential Parking

Addressing concerns that the installation of paid parking in the downtown corridor was likely to push visitors into the residential areas looking for free parking, council heard a first reading on a new regulation for residential parking that includes establishment of parking zones, parking permits for residential, visitors and commercial vehicles.

Oktoberfest

The city administrator will be hosting a listening session at the April Residential Advisory Committee (RAC) meeting to discuss their wishes for Oktoberfest. Under consideration will be to; keep the status quo, terminate the event, or redesign the event and solicit proposals consistent with the new design. Regardless of the decision to be made, City staff advised council that issuing a Notice of Termination to Projekt Bayern’s 2012 agreement would be in the best interest of the city. The Notice of Termination will be brought to the council before the end of March for their approval.

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