LEBANON — The city school district is reconsidering its plan to put both a new high school and a new elementary on Drake Road, Superintendent Bill Sears said Tuesday.

        “As we began looking to the future, the high school has the potential to go from 1,600 students to 2,400,” Mr. Sears said. An elementary and a high school, both to be built as the result of a $50 million levy passed in May, would fit on the Drake Road site, he said. However, it would be tight, particularly as population grows in Lebanon and Turtlecreek Township.

        One option is to build the elementary next to the current high school, which will hold seventh- and eighth-graders, but the site is long and narrow, Mr. Sears said.

        A more attractive alternative is to buy land the township owns on Ohio 123 and put the elementary school there. “That's where we think our growth is going to be in the future,” Mr. Sears said of the west-side location.

        Mr. Sears, a Turtlecreek Township trustee and Acting City Manager Pat Clements met Tuesday to discuss a three-way deal that could clear the way for the Ohio 123 site. The township owns 54 acres on Ohio 123, part of which it wants to use to replace its cramped Ohio 63 fire station.

        It is willing to sell the schools the rest of the site at or below cost, township Trustee Dan George said, but first the township wants the city to agree to deannex the planned fire-station site.

        In exchange, he said, the township would let the city reannex the Ohio 63 site, which would likely be sold.

        Turtlecreek Township also would pay $55,000 into Lebanon's park fund over the next several years.

        No decisions have been made, but all parties are hailing a new era of cooperation.

        Tuesday, Warren County commissioners delayed a hearing on annexing the Drake Road school site to Lebanon until April 25, after some neighbors raised concerns.

       E-mail candrews@enquirer.com
       

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