Dover school leaders agree to buy, demolish house to expand parking lot
DOVER (WJER) (Feb. 15, 2023) – The building that once housed the Dover school system’s administrative offices won’t be the only one coming down to add more parking around the high school.
The Board of Education has approved a purchase agreement for the house at 226 West Seventh Street. Superintendent Karie McCrate says the plan is to raze it and the administrative building to expand the school’s Sixth Street parking lot.
“So as we are looking at the demolition of the old administration building at 219 [West Sixth], it only made sense for us to pursue acquiring the house at 226 so that we could finally access all of that and open up that entire lot.”
The board authorized the agreement Monday and awarded the demolition contract for both buildings to Hammond Construction. That’s who managed the contractors that built the new part of the school a couple of years ago.
“They oversaw this entire new construction project, the 1962 wing, and the demolition of all the properties around the school that needed to come down for the construction of this property. So they are very familiar with the ins and outs of working with all the local agencies, all the city contractors. They have done all of this work to date.”
McCrate says the house already has parking on one side, and the other is an empty field the district owns but hasn’t been able to develop. The board has agreed to pay $130,000 for the house and up to a $100,000 to remediate and demolish both buildings.