NP school board buys property to store, service vehicles
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (Nov. 25, 2022) – We now know which property New Philadelphia school officials were trying to purchase as a new home for the district’s bus garage and maintenance building.
It’s a 6,400-square-foot commercial building on three acres of land at 764 State Route 416, just past the city limits. The school board in a unanimous vote Monday evening agreed to buy the property for $625,000. Member Todd McMath thought it was a great purchase.
“It’s a little over a mile from Broadway. A good location, I think, for us. A lot of room, so we’ll be able to consolidate some things.”
Discussions about relocating the district’s maintenance department began after a fire safety inspection of its current building on South Broadway revealed issues that school officials say would have cost more to resolve than what the property was worth. Superintendent Amy Wentworth thanked firefighters for giving them to figure out their next move.
“They were insistent that we find a solution but they were patient as long as we were working toward that and understood that we needed to take time to do our due diligence of finding a good solution for the district, so thanks to the fire department for their patience.”
School board President Dave Franz described the new building as a “blank slate.”
“It, I think, provides the opportunity to lay it out the way that we want it laid out and to provide the services that are needed inside the building in a legal way, per the fire code, and we can work with the fire department and good quality contractors here right in our own hometowns and get the stuff done right.”
Wentworth says the property is large enough to securely house all of the district’s vehicles. Right now, the buses are kept in a small, fenced-in area behind the administrative offices when they’re not in use, but the vans have to park elsewhere.