Thrusday, January 14, 1999
Old school is issue in S. Lebanon
'We don't want an eyesore'
BY MIRIAM SMITH
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SOUTH LEBANON — Village Administrator John Louallen doesn't want the village's elementary school to become a blight.
The Kings Local School District on Tuesday agreed to buy a 16-acre site along Ohio 48 in Hamilton Township to replace the South Lebanon Elementary School, which is 89 years old.
Mr. Louallen wants to meet with school officials to discuss demolishing part of the building while salvaging its gym so it could be converted into some kind of community center.
The school is still open to students, and the district hopes to open the new building in 2001.
“We don't want an eyesore in the village of South Lebanon,” Mr. Louallen said. “Now it kind of boils down to what are they planning to do with the building they're going to abandon.”
District spokeswoman Linda Oda said Superintendent David Query has met with village officials and plans to work with them to determine the best use for the old school.
“The board has said ... that they would work with the village to do whatever they could with South Lebanon ... to salvage (the building),” Mrs. Oda said.
The site of the new school, on the west side of Ohio 48 between Dwire and Grandin roads, is actually in the Little Miami Local School District, just over the boundary from Kings.
Officials said Tuesday the land is the best option for the district and should pose no problems because the school only has to be near the students it serves.
The site also is in the heart of planned residential development in the Kings district.
The price has not been determined. The board has $600,000 in the permanent improvement fund that will be used for the purchase, Mrs. Oda has said.
The land is owned by Hines Griffin, who is developing an upscale golf course community next to the site.
Mr. Griffin would build an access road to the school off Ohio 48 and provide utilities to the site, Mr. Query said Tuesday.
The board Tuesday also took the first step in putting a 2.43-mill bond issue on the May ballot for the new school. Mrs. Oda said the bond issue also would:
• Pay for major renovations to Kings Mills Elementary School.
• Move the central administrative offices from the junior high to Kings Mills Elementary.
• Make some renovations to J.F. Burns Elementary School.
The bond issue, which the board is expected to place on the ballot when they vote in February, would generate $16 million over the next 26 years, Mrs. Oda said.
It would not cost residents any more in taxes because the district's debt was previously structured to drop by 2.43 mills in 2000, Mrs. Oda said.
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