New Philadelphia schools sign letter of intent to buy land for new campus

New Philadelphia City Schools has signed a letter of intent to purchase a 77-acre tract on state Route 39 a short distance east of New Philadelphia for construction of two new schools for the district.

The sale is contingent upon passage of a 1.5% income tax by the voters May 5.

The school district will pay $35,714 per acre for the property, for a total cost of $2.75 million.

The agreement also is contingent on the property being annexed into the city and the seller, Ridge Valley LLC, providing an easement for water and sewer to extend to the property.

“It is our hope that this is going to be a good option for our district campus, and the voters will agree with that,” Superintendent Amy Wentworth said following a special meeting on Tuesday in which the board of education discussed the deal.

The school district would also have to pay the cost of running water and sewer lines to the property. The estimate is $6 million.

The current owners of the land would retain the mineral rights, but the district would receive the surface rights so that there wouldn’t be any gas wells at the site, the superintendent said.

New Philadelphia City Schools has gone to the voters four times in recent years with a bond issue to build new schools, but residents have rejected it each time.

If approved by voters in May, the income tax would raise about $7.2 million per year on earned income by district residents. Senior citizens would not have to pay the tax.

New Philadelphia is slated to receive $80 million from the state to help pay for the project. The district would be responsible for the remaining $89 million. The total cost of the project is $169.56 million.

Originally, the district had planned to build a new elementary school at the site of South Elementary and a new middle school/high school at the site of the current middle school and high school.

Wentworth said a single campus for the district is a wonderful idea.

“It just gives you so many more options educationally for older students to mentor younger students,” she said. “It provides a lot of convenience for parents because everyone is there, whether you’re in high school or elementary school, everyone is in the same place. There’s a lot of collaboration for teachers. It just makes things run a lot more smoothly.”

The campus would house all students from pre-school through 12th grade. There are currently nearly 3,000 students in the district.

Under the plan, all current buildings would be demolished, except for the high school gymnasium, and the land would be sold. Administrative offices would be moved to the Quaker Dome pre-school area.

If the income tax issue fails in May, the district will not buy the land. Nor will the district pay a retainer to hold the land, as it did when it attempted to buy the Oak Shadows Golf Course in 2019 for new schools.

“The sellers are willing to keep it for us until the May election,” Wentworth said. “Then we will have lost that opportunity if we don’t pass.”

If the income tax issue does not pass in May, the district will have one more chance to pass a tax issue in November to receive $80 million from the state.

Because the land on Route 39 would not be available, the district would go back to the original plan of building new schools at South Elementary and the high school, she said.

The board will take final action on the purchase of the land at its meeting Feb. 17.