Land Purchase Will Help Schools
Centerville City Schools has purchased 28 acres of land from Washington Township along Social Row Road that will be set aside for a future elementary and middle school.
The land, located west of Watch Hill Lane, will help the school district meet its long-term planning needs while protecting the parcel from more intensive types of development. The acreage will remain undeveloped for at least 10 to 15 years.
“Township trustees presented us with a great opportunity by securing this land,” said Superintendent Gary Smiga. “This purchase enables the school district to meet the educational needs of our community from a site standpoint for the next 10 to 20 years. We appreciate the spirit of cooperation that has allowed this to occur.”
The land is part of a 71-acre parcel purchased by Washington Township in 2001 at the northeast corner of Sheehan and Social Row roads. About half farmland and half woods, the property is bounded by the Centerville City Schools transportation center to the north.
The school district purchased the property for $38,655 per acre and has an option to purchase another 14 acres immediately to the north.
“We set a price that we thought was fair to township residents, to the school district, and to the community as a whole. We believe the entire community benefits when public entities cooperate,” said Township Administrator Gary Huff. The sale price is equal to what the township would have earned had the money it used to purchase the property been invested.
When voters passed Issue 13 in 2005, Centerville Schools promised to set aside funds for the purchase of future school sites. “The land purchase provides the district with security,” Smiga said. “If we had waited for 20 years to go by and then looked for land, it would have been scarce and more expensive. It’s also very possible it would not have been available in an appropriate location.”
Until recently, land was set aside on Paragon Road for that purpose. However, a school for kindergarten and first grade will open there this fall to accommodate enrollment growth.
With the sale of property to Centerville Schools, Washington Township will retain 119 acres along Social Row Road, an area that will be preserved as open space or used for parks and recreation. The parcel extends from Dayton-Lebanon pike past the northwest side of Watch Hill Lane to Sheehan Road.
Since 2001, Washington Township has purchased a little more than 146 contiguous acres in the southwest portion of the township for open space. Acquired in three main stages, the property was purchased entirely with estate tax.
Preserving open space is an investment in the community, said Trustee President Terry Blair. “Many residents originally were attracted to Washington Township because of its natural, open spaces. Those qualities are worth preserving. It’s important to conserve land before it’s earmarked for other uses.”
After acquiring the 71-acre property in 2001, township trustees purchased 55 acres of farmland the following year near the northwest corner of Dayton-Lebanon Pike and Social Row. The land was purchased at a favorable price from Ethel Winterhalter, a civic leader and former township trustee. A third purchase was made in 2005 when trustees bought 19.9 acres on Dayton-Lebanon Pike from Winterhalter’s heirs.
The Community Plan developed by the citizen-driven Create the Vision Committee also calls for conserving open space throughout the community, with particular emphasis on the southern edge of Centerville/Washington Township.
The Community Plan includes the following principle statement: “Residents of the community that have participated in the planning process have a strong desire to maintain and protect open space. It is an important visual, and in some cases, recreational amenity. In the southern part of the community, in particular, it is recognized as an opportunity to define the edge of the community and distinguish it from the development pattern that continues to move north … Large, connected land areas on the southern edge of the community should be conserved, if not preserved.”