In February, the College Place Public Schools Board of Directors approved moving forward with a purchase of nearly 40 acres to be the home of a future CPPS school. This week, the district finalized the deal with land owner Charlie Konen, of Konen Properties LLC, purchasing the land for $1.6 million dollars. The district had been saving for a number of years to prepare itself for the purchase. There will be no additional costs or taxes for the College Place community due to the purchase.
Currently, a City of College Place sewer project is underway west of College Avenue across from the College Place District Office. The project will bring a new sewer pipeline to a soon to be constructed sewer lift station that will provide service to future homes and businesses. This infrastructure is just the beginning of many new types of growth that will develop in the area per the City of College Place’s “FY 2020 to 2025 Capital Facility Plan.” By purchasing the 40 acres, CPPS has positioned itself to be squarely in the middle of the growth plan and to be able to be a part of creating a community hub for recreation with the new school and adjacent recreational facilities.
The school district expects that the new school could be on the horizon in the next six to ten years. While it is unclear what type of school would be built, with the current facilities in the district, it would be necessary to evaluate how all three sites would serve the district’s Prekindergarten through Twelfth Grade system. Currently, College Place Public Schools has roughly eleven years left to pay off the current bond that blessed the community with a new Davis Elementary and College Place High School, and renovated Sager Middle School.
College Place Public Schools Superintendent Jim Fry said, “The current and past Board of Directors have worked extremely hard to be excellent caretakers of public funds. This allows us to purchase this land to support our growth without any new taxes. All of the new construction that is set to explode west of College Avenue will come right to the doorstep of our new school. We could not ask for a better situation to prepare for the future of College Place and College Place Public Schools.”