Farmington Board Members Pass On School Property

FA R M INGTON — Two Farmington School Board members who had expressed an interest in purchasing school property next to Williams Elementary have placed their plans on hold.

Board member Bleaux Barnes said the appraised value of the property exceeded the price that he and board member Doug Williams were willing to pay. Barnes said he thinks there may still be some interest in the property from other people because the infrastructure is already in place to develop the land.

The Farmington School District purchased 40 acres on Broyles Street about 10 years ago for $ 11,000 per acre. Williams Elementary School is located on about nine acres of the land and the rest of it is undeveloped.

Barnes approached school Superintendent Bryan Law in July about the possibility of purchasing the land for a single family

“Without a doubt, that money could be very helpful in building a new high school.”

Bryan Law

Farmington Superintendent

housing development. Law shared this information in a school board meeting and then said he planned to have the land appraised.

Stringfellow and Associates Appraisers of Farmington gave the land an appraised market value of $ 450,000 or $ 22,300 per acre for approximately 20 acres.

Following this report, Law told the school board that he wanted to get another appraiser to review the appraisal and that he also thought the school should open up the purchase to the public and let others also bid on buying the land.

Law recommended setting the appraisal price as the minimum bid.

Law said he didn’t know if the school district would pursue trying to sell the land since Barnes and Williams have indicated they are not interested anymore.

“I’ve not talked to any board members to see if they want to go forward,” Law said.

Law said one advantage to selling the property is that the proceeds could go into the district’s capital improvement fund.

“Without a doubt, that money could be very helpful in building a new high school,” Law said.

From talking to other school officials, Law has said he does not believe

the property would be suitable for another school building.

The undeveloped land has a large drainage ditch through part of it and another three acres in the back of the property is in a flood plain.