The school board Friday called on the Village of Pelham to restart negotiations over a possible swap of school district-owned Julianne’s Playground for municipal property, following a vote by the village board to begin eminent domain proceedings to take possession of all or part of the park for a storm sewer project.
The board of education made its statement in an email sent to residents after Village of Pelham Mayor Chance Mullen told his constituents in an email Wednesday his board had decided to use its eminent domain powers.
“It remains our sincere hope that the village will reverse course and return to the negotiating table,” said the school board. “We are fully prepared to do so and have several options that we believe benefit all, while protecting the future interests of our school children.”
Restarting talks “will result in a quicker resolution to provide flood relief than the costly and lengthy legal process of eminent domain that will negatively and unnecessarily impact the entire Pelham community,” the board said.
The school trustees reiterated both their support for helping “the many residents who are seriously impacted by flooding” and the fact the district is hiring legal counsel to fight the possible condemnation of Julianne’s Playground, calling the move a “highly unusual attempt to take school district property which has a prior and future public use.”
The email did not describe the several new options the school board has to offer the village.
Mullen announced April 22 the village rejected as “not feasible or reasonable” what he said was the school district’s only offer: Trading the playground for an unspecified portion of Pelham’s Wolfs Lane Park. He said the school board’s negotiators “expressed no interest in any other land or property owned by the village, and they made clear they had no interest in financial compensation.”
The school district and village have held meetings and talks since January on the municipality’s plan to construct underground tanks and a diesel pumping station above ground at Julianne’s Playground as part of a proposed $39 million overhaul of the stormwater sewers designed to reduce serious flooding in the north Pelham and Highbrook Avenue neighborhoods.
Before the failed negotiations, the board of education denied the village’s request for an easement to undertake the project, citing liability issues, management demands on the district and the fact the property would not be buildable for future school facilities.
The stormwater reservoirs would be constructed under the tennis courts and the blacktop at Julianne’s and the pumps installed in a house above ground nearby.
In last week’s emails, neither the mayor nor the school board mentioned the stumbling block Mullen highlighted in February. A real estate transaction—including a swap—would require approval by the voters of the Pelham Union Free School District in a referendum. Mullen said in an Feb. 24 email to residents that the village would only agree to a deal requiring a public vote if there were a “failsafe” easement in place. “Unless an easement was granted in advance, we would not know if it’s possible to move forward with the project until the conclusion of that vote—and that’s assuming the proposition is approved by voters on the first attempt,” Mullen said.
He also said the vote would likely require “a lengthy public education campaign” while the village is seeking to avoid delays in applying for grants and doing engineering work.
Given the school board won’t grant an easement and the village trustees won’t agree to a land transfer without one as a back up, it’s hard to see how a swap will move forward. At this point, both jurisdictions are negotiating in the press and via emails to their different yet overlapping constituencies.
The district’s own need for land was highlighted by the school board. “Property is at a premium in our community and most, if not all, of our school facilities operate at or near capacity. We are currently in the final stages of strategic planning, completing our building conditions survey and space utilization analysis,” the board said. Trading real estate “would preserve the possibility to address facilities needs for future boards of education while providing the village the land it needs for flood mitigation.”
Here is the complete text of the Pelham Board of Education’s email to the community:
Dear Pelham Community,
We write to provide an update on the Village of Pelham’s proposal to build a large-scale water retention system and diesel pump station at Julianne’s Playground—property that is owned by the school district.
To be clear, we support providing relief to the many residents who are seriously impacted by flooding, and we support the village’s efforts to find that relief. We believe there is a path forward that can benefit the interests of both our school district and its students, present and future, and the Village of Pelham as a whole. The board of education has spent a substantial amount of time and resources to conduct due diligence and fulfill our responsibilities as fiduciaries of our district’s assets.
The village’s original proposal sought an “easement” arrangement in which the project would be built on (both above and below) the Julianne’s Playground property, with property ownership remaining with the school district. The board of education is opposed to this approach due to the potential of significant increased liability, ongoing management responsibilities and administrative demands for the school district in perpetuity. It must also be noted that the project will permanently limit future educational uses and, we believe, render the property unbuildable for any future facilities use.
For those reasons, we sought to negotiate a means, beneficial to both the village and the school district, of transferring the property to the Village of Pelham in exchange for reasonable land consideration currently owned by the village. Property is at a premium in our community and most, if not all, of our school facilities operate at or near capacity. We are currently in the final stages of strategic planning, completing our building conditions survey and space utilization analysis. We believe this sort of arrangement would preserve the possibility to address facilities needs for future boards of education while providing the village the land it needs for flood mitigation.
Those efforts have been rejected by the village so far. We hope that the village’s position will change so that the interests of all residents are protected.
Tuesday night, the village board voted to begin eminent domain proceedings—a legal process via lawsuit against the district in Supreme Court by which the village would take the Julianne’s Playground property, already utilized for public use, for a different public use. The board of education has retained legal counsel as we navigate this highly unusual attempt to take school district property which has a prior and future public use. Again—we believe continued negotiations will result in a quicker resolution to provide flood relief than the costly and lengthy legal process of eminent domain that will negatively and unnecessarily impact the entire Pelham community.
It remains our sincere hope that the village will reverse course and return to the negotiating table. We are fully prepared to do so and have several options that we believe benefit all, while protecting the future interests of our school children. At the end of the day, our two governing bodies serve the same residents, and it is our belief that a better solution is achievable.
Sincerely,
The Pelham Board of Education
