5J to buy property
Published 12:50 pm Friday, February 17, 2017
- 5J to buy property
The Baker School Board agreed Thursday night to sell a former brownfield site that has been cleaned up as part of a classroom project, buy a Main Street property to continue the brownfield class cleanup work, and purchase 12.2 acres on Hughes Lane adjacent to the Baker Sports Complex.
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The directors agreed to enter into an agreement with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to pay $160,000 for the field east of the church and just north of the Sports Complex.
Director Andrew Bryan, a Baker City real estate agent, said that when he learned that the church planned to sell the property it seemed obvious that the District should make an offer to buy it.
The land will provide access from Hughes Lane, not only to the Sports Complex, but also to Baker High School, the Baker Technical Institute (BTI) and Bulldog Memorial Stadium, Bryan said.
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“This gives the Board leeway,” he said. “It is an opportunity, and $160,000 is a well-priced opportunity.”
The land has a market value of $167,710, according to Kerry Savage, Baker County assessor.
In continuing its support of the brownfield cleanup class that is being taught at BTI by science teacher Megan Alameda, the board agreed to sell the cleaned up site of the former Oswald Machine Shop at 2430 Balm St.
The District has entered into a purchase and sale agreement with Jim and Mary Jo Grove of The Grove Team Real Estate, who will buy the 8,628 square feet of industrial property for $45,000. The site sits just south of the Grove’s real estate office at 845 Campbell St.
Alameda’s class gained national attention last summer when she was honored as one of 18 teachers to receive the Presidential Innovation Award for Environmental Education. The award was presented by the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The class also is forming partnerships with the city and county to cleanup other brownfield sites.
“This is one of those happenstance little miracles that’s turned into an entire program,” Bryan said. “It’s phenomenal.”
The Balm Street property, the site of a machine shop for many years, was donated to the District along with a cash gift for student scholarships by the late Walter and Eva Ostwald. Eva was a popular longtime BHS business teacher.
When the District made plans to sell the property, the soil and a well at the site were found to be contaminated by oils and other chemicals used at the shop.
The cost of the cleanup was paid for by a two-year $200,000 grant from the Oregon Business Development Department in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In addition to paying the cost of the cleanup, the money also paid for Alameda’s salary and a two-year curriculum to involve students in the work.
Most of the $45,000 sale price will be directed to continuing the brownfield work with a portion of it going to scholarships for students pursuing education in environmental science.
The District plans to handle the brownfield cleanup at the Odd Fellows Building at 1780 Main St. in a similar fashion, using grant money to involve students in accomplishing the work.
See more in the Feb. 17, 2017, issue of the Baker City Herald.