MONROE — The School District of Monroe held a public informational session on March 2 to discuss the potential land acquisition for the new high school. The vote on the land will come in a meeting of the electors on Wednesday, March 8.
The new location is on the north side of County DR just outside the city limits near the industrial park. The land, approximately 70 acres, would be sold to the district for just under $39,000 per acre. It is cur-rently owned by Fran and Sandy Donny.
At the meeting, held in the Monroe High School Performing Arts Center, school board president Rich Deprez and Monroe superintendent Rodney Figueroa were flanked by consulting representatives from CG Schmidt, Plunkett Raysich Architects, Fehr Graham and Baird Financial. Seven of the other eight school board members sat in the front row near the stage, listening intently.
First, the presentation went over the nearly 6-year process that took place prior to the $88 million ref-erendum that passed in November 2022. That process began in the spring of 2017, identifying facility needs around the district. Multiple committees of citizens, board members, staff, administration and the professional consultants were created, and multiple community surveys sent out.
From those meetings and surveys, it was eventually identified that a new high school be built on a new property. The referendum passed by more than 10% of the vote at 54.51% to 45.48%.
Days before the first meeting of the electors in December 2022, individual tax bills for 2023 were deliv-ered to residents, and many took exception to the higher tax than they had expected. The referen-dum had been promoted to only be only a slight increase based on the levy, but when the Fair Market Value on homes went up throughout the region — let alone the rest of the state — the costs were much higher, anywhere from $200-$700 for most homes.
In the first meeting of the electors, a different potential land for the high school, located along the city’s far east side on 31st Avenue, was voted down, 52-69.
“After the meeting on Dec. 12, we looked at all of the properties again and re-engaged with some of the owners,” Figueroa said.
During the past three months, administrators and their counsel have been working to select a favorable chunk of land, and the Donny property has long been the top option, Figueroa said.
The reason it wasn’t the first pick was because of cost. The Donnys originally asked for an astronomical $50,000 per acre, more than four times the going rate for most agricultural land across the region. On 31st Avenue, known as the B&S Property, the total cost ($5.13M) was less for purchase ($17,000/acre) and land improvement ($1.56M). However, with the Donny property renegotiated, the total cost on DR is now approximately $80,000 less than the 31st Avenue land.
“We did an in-depth apples-to-apples cost analysis so that we could get a good, strong estimate on each site. We looked at costs for utilities, utility extensions, whether a lift station is required … and of course street improvements. And land cost is a part of it,” Figueroa said. “When we did the initial bid-ding and bid it at a minimum of 60 acres, these were the 70-acre pieces.”
Almost a year ago, administrators and the board did extensive work to try and find the best property available in the area. There were 17 properties originally identified of 60 acres or more that were with-in close proximity of city utilities. Many would have required land improvements at too high of a cost to be considered in earnest. Eventually, the properties were whittled down to the four best.
“What we really focused on was the constructibility of these sites,” said Dan Chovanec of CG Schmidt. “What is the elevation change … how much fill in order to balance the site … how many utilities are close to the site. We looked at the road, the condition of the road and if we could do a deceleration lane or have to redo the entire road. We put a lot of thought into it and a lot of detail so we could get an as accurate cost as possible.”
The Donny property would not require a lift station installed, has city utilities located across the road due to the location of the industrial park, and would cost approximately half as much for earthwork and excavation. A traffic study would also have to be done.
If the land vote passes, bid packages for design, bidding and construction would be sought over the next couple of months. The district and builders hope construction can begin this summer and be complete in time for the start of school year in fall 2025.
More information is available on the district website at https://bit.ly/3mgffbX, with video of the presentation available on the district’s YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/@
monroeschoolswi. Further, a new FAQ page will be added to the district website at
monroeschools.com.
Passing the land vote won’t be easy. Buzz on social media and around the community point to a much larger turnout than the 122 that showed up in December.
The district is also facing a lawsuit from a quartet of citizens disgruntled at the elevated tax dollars and felt there was malice in the promotion of the referendum leading up to the November election. The leader of the lawsuit, Dale Howarth, started a Facebook group hoping to get more transparency from the district and school board. That group has more than 1,000 members, though many that have joined do not reside in the district, but still have ties to it and are interested in the discussions. Every day discussion in the group leads to members asking for others to show up to vote no.
Figueroa said that the district has been in touch with the parliamentary, and there will be voter rolls and requirements to vote, which include being of voting age and a resident of the district for more than 28 days prior to the vote. Unfortunately for those unable to attend, the district will not be accepting any form of absentee ballot.