West Allis-West Milwaukee School Board votes to have Lane Intermediate School become a recreation center
The West Allis-West Milwaukee School Board will have one more recreation center and one less school after Lane Intermediate School closes at the end of the current school year.
The School Board on Oct. 31 agreed to repurpose the school as a rec center as part of its 2022-23 budget. It voted in June to close Lane Intermediate School and two other elementary schools at the end of the 2022-23 school year.
The district Recreation and Community Services Department will lease Lane Intermediate from the district.
That decision did not come without some criticism from members of the public, though.
Three people — Gary Schmid, Joe Mikolajczak and Steve Broadwell — spoke during the public comment portion of the Oct. 31 meeting. Each opposed the recreation center proposal and asked the district to consider selling the building instead to a church group. Schmid is a resident and member of the church. Mikolajczak and Broadwell are also district residents, but are not members of the church.
"When one considers there would be fewer operating capital expenditures in the future, plus the sale proceeds which could be used for other needs in the school district, I believe it will be an overall positive transaction for both the school district and residents," said Schmid, who is a resident and member of the church.
Mikolajczak, accused the board of being "very dishonest and underhanded" in informing the public about the proposal. Mikolajczak also criticized the board for ignoring the church group's offer "for months and months" to buy the Lane Intermediate School building and for not informing the public about the offer.
"Enough is enough. Stop wasting our money. It's our money; it's not your money. Sell this building and forget your idea for a community center. I think you are deathly afraid of competition and don't want to lose control of this building," Mikolajczak said.
Broadwell criticized the district for its lack of response to the church group's requests to meet about its offer.
"You will not have performed due diligence on behalf of our kids or taxpayers until you talk to those interested in the property. Your refusal to do so would certainly be remembered by taxpayers when you come to them next time," Broadwell said.
The church group's proposal
Mike Zarling spoke to the board during an Oct. 24 meeting about his church's offer to purchase the Lane Intermediate School building. Zarling is a West Allis resident and member of Living Hope Lutheran Church in West Allis.
Zarling said that while the church had previously submitted a private offer to the board, the church wanted to make its offer public so that all options for the school building could be considered. He said the church's previous requests to meet with the board to discuss its offer had been declined.
Zarling did not disclose the price nor the specific terms of the church's offer.
"We would like to publicly state that, among other things, our offer increases the tax rolls by returning our several properties that we have around the city, which are currently exempt from tax rolls. It is also compliant with the current zoning of the site, which I'm told that the rec center is not currently by the city of West Allis under that current zoning. And it provides more money to the school district, the physical offer that was made," Zarling said.
Zarling said the building could be available for public use if the church bought the school building. He said the church would be open to having the facility used for open gyms, exercise classes, as a polling station and for other public uses. "The actions of any long-term, successful organization such as your school board are based on considering multiple options. So we hereby ask that the board consider and thoroughly review any non-school district offers such as ourself for the use of Lane to ensure the highest and best possible return is provided to the school district and the taxpayer," Zarling said.
The board discussed the buyer's interest in closed session, according to an emailed statement from district officials.
"The Lane property was never for sale. The formal and unsolicited offer to purchase Lane was received during the time the board was considering the Recreation proposal," the statement said.
"Had there been no proposal from Recreation and there was a viable solution to replace the gym space, the administration would have recommended working with a broker to solicit competitive bids for the redevelopment of the site but would not have recommended sale to a competing school provider," it added.
The school building as a recreation center
The proposal to use the building as a recreation center, introduced at the School Board's Sept. 19 meeting, suggested leasing and remodeling Lane "to expand recreation and athletic opportunities in our community."
The district also said that under the lease agreement the recreation department will be responsible for all building maintenance.
The district said the proposal would reduce the school tax rate from $7.55 per $1,000 of property value to $6.44 per $1,000 of property value; maintain access to high-quality gym space, create an accessible and inclusive playground, provide employees with a free membership to the fitness center, provide resources to support needs in other aging district buildings, and would maintain school board control of the property.
Since the property is currently zoned as a school, the district will work with the city of West Allis to change the zoning.
Next steps include the district seeking out calls for proposals from construction firms to develop detailed plans related to razing some portions of the building and remodeling others. Then the district will work with the City of West Allis to secure appropriate zoning followed by demolition and construction to follow sometime in mid to late summer 2023, according to an email from West Allis-West Milwaukee School District director of communications and community relations Amanda Stewart.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: West Allis-West Milwaukee School Board to decide on recreation center
