BOULDER – Six years to the date that the Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) first entered into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the City of Boulder specifying the city’s and district’s roles in the future closure and sale of school facilities, BVSD closed on the sale of the former Washington Elementary School site. The three-acre parcel was purchased by Wonderland Hill Development Co. for $4.1 million.
In response to the city’s request, BVSD agreed to a three-year extension of the MOU on March 8, 2005. The MOU acknowledges the primary responsibility of BVSD to manage its assets in the best interests of the district to the benefit of student learning while also recognizing that the city’s schools are interwoven in the fabric of the Boulder community’s daily life. In March 2008 the school board authorized the superintendent to negotiate a further extension of the MOU.
This city/district agreement specifies the terms of the district’s collaboration with the city regarding any sale and development of school sites. To allow the city to determine whether it wanted to purchase the site, the district leased the property to the city for one year in 2005. Deciding not to purchase the site, the city, in 2006, initiated a request for proposal (RFP) process for site development of the school property which was closed in 2003. As part of that BVSD/City of Boulder process, the city created a community review panel to review applications. Pursuit of historic designation of the Washington school building was, per the MOU, a condition of the sale.
It was during this community review process that Wonderland Hill Development Co. was chosen as the site developer when the Boulder City Council unanimously referred this developer to BVSD as the purchaser of the former school site.
In accordance with the MOU, BVSD was required to accept Wonderland as the purchaser. The Boulder Valley School Board unanimously approved the sale of the Washington Elementary property to Wonderland Hill Development Co. on October 10, 2006. Final closing of the sale today formally ends BVSD involvement in this matter.
BVSD administration will, as publicly stated earlier, recommend that the $4.1 million in sale proceeds be added to the 2006 bond dollars already committed to Columbine Elementary School in Boulder altering the Columbine project scope from a significant renovation to a complete replacement. Such action would require review by the BVSD Citizens Bond Oversight Committee and an amendment to the BVSD Educational Facilities Master Plan by the school board.