The North Royalton Board of Education recently amended a previous sale of the Valley Vista property and also rejected the bid on the Albion Road school property, which is located on Albion Road, east of York Road. The Albion property is one of three properties that previously housed elementary schools, and was vacated with the building of the new North Royalton Elementary School, on State Road.
Land preservation group, West Creek Conservancy, placed a bid for the fifteen-acre property during a public auction that took place in late May. According to Ohio law, school districts must hold a public auction for parcels valued over $10,000. Although there was some interest, the group was the only bidder, at $250,000. The property was appraised at $500,000 within the past year, according to North Royalton School Superintendent, Mike Laub. He went on to say that the appraisal did not take into account some civil engineering issues that result in flooding issues. Those issues could affect the appraised value.
The Board voted at their June 13 meeting to reject the offer, as it was so low and because the bid was contingent on West Creek obtaining grant funding. “It wasn’t a bid that the Board chose to accept for more than one reason,” according to Laub. The Board authorized the administration to negotiate with not only West Creek, but any other interested party.
Currently, the North Royalton School District is accepting offers for the property. “We’ve had one verbal offer and I got a call about a week ago from a group that is looking at the property,” said Laub. “Both are looking to put homes on the property.” He went on to note that if developed that way and the engineering issues resolved, it would be a win-win situation from both the district and the city. “The city and district could benefit. More tax revenue for the district, plus fixing some of the flooding issues.”
Albion will be the second property that the district has sold. The 21+ acre Valley Vista property was sold last in February to a Cleveland-based development company, Liberty Development Company, LLC, for $540,000. At the July 11 meeting, the Board adopted a resolution amending that deal. The resolution was adopted that authorizes the sale of a portion of the Valley Vista property after Liberty requested the modification. The new resolution allows for the sale of 7.5 acres to be sold at a cost of $360,000. The resolution states that Liberty believes it cannot develop the full site.
The third property, Royal View, remains intact, as planned by the Board. That property will ultimately house the district’s central office and professional development space. Plans for a permanent safety town and a senior center are also in the works. Laub said that the preliminary costs of the district’s portion are preventing them from moving forward with the central office/professional development space at this time. He also noted that there are no plans at this time to develop any other part of the property for residential use.
By GLORIA PLEVA KACIK
Contributing Writer