District lowers lease price in hopes of attracting a tenant

By BECKY WALDROP

Gazette-Times reporter

For as long as Lee Callahan has lived on Northeast Pilkington Avenue, she could tell the season by sounds of children playing at Fairplay Elementary School a few blocks away. In the spring, the voices were excited, as students flocked to the fields and playground for recess, Callahan said.

"I would just hear them and know that all is well," she said.

She's missed hearing the children and wonders what will become of the property since the school closed last June. Callahan and almost 40 other residents who live near Fairplay have sent a letter to the Corvallis School Board to say they'd like the building to remain a school.

Until last week, Fairplay was for sale, but Monday the school board decided to take it off the market and search for a group to lease the building. The district has discounted its lease price, from 17 cents per square foot to 7.5 cents per square foot, in an attempt to attract a tenant.

Zoning restrictions on the property limit the type of group that could occupy the space. A school would be allowable, but a church or an agricultural-use would require a conditional use permit from the county. Land-use experts agree that it would be difficult to change the zoning to accommodate a different type of development, such as a residential subdivision or commercial use.

That's welcome news to Callahan and her neighbors.

"I'd like it to be a school, not a warehouse," she said.

The vantage from the front porch of Callahan's green stucco house includes other homes, and also fields and farmland. The school's presence has given a community feeling to this rural neighborhood. Old-timers, including Callahan and Joan Armstrong, recall going to the school to vote, for Boy Scout meetings and school potlucks.

Armstrong also lives on Pilkington, among a handful of dead-end streets that fork off from Highway 20 near Fairplay. The school has been a welcome accompaniment to the country living she's enjoyed for 45 years.

Armstrong's children, adults now, used to walk to school. Now every day she takes a walk down by the vacant property. Fairplay should be used as a school, she said, whether it's through lease or sale.

"That's what it is, and what it should be used for," Armstrong said.

It's a shame to allow the building to sit empty, she said, and proceeds could certainly help the cash-strapped district.

Fred Wright, facilities director for the district, said he's asked a real estate agent to market Fairplay for lease. The district received three offers to lease Fairplay last year, from a church and two school groups, but none of the offers were even close to the price the district sought. The district has lowered its monthly lease price, but all the upkeep and utility costs would be borne by the lessee. The district spends about $1,000 a month to maintain the school, including utility costs, grounds work and security.

"We're interested in getting somebody in there so that it would at least be cost-neutral or to get some kind of revenue from the property," Wright said.

The district intends to work with the Benton County Community Development Department to maintain Fairplay's non-conforming use as a school so the land isn't considered abandoned and doesn't revert back to exclusive farm use zoning.

Becky Waldrop covers youth and education for the Gazette-Times. She can be reached by e-mail at waldropb@gtconnect.com or by phone at 758-9510.