QuickStory: Task Force Calls for Coultrap Demolition

A task force recommended Monday that School District 304 demolish the historic Coultrap facility.

In an announcement during the "Work-Study Topics and Future Considerations" part of the agenda, School Board President Mark Grosso said a task force of School Board members and staff had considered at least four options regarding what to do with the building that was Geneva's high school in 1923.

The task force considered three options that entailed some use of the first floor, possibly as School District 304 administrative offices, which might then have made it possible to sell the present office building in the former Fourth Street School. Some or all of those scenarios included the possibility of sharing the Coultrap space with the Geneva Park District.

But the cost of renovations would be in the range of $2.3 million on the low end to $4.2 million on the high end.

"The task force came unanimously to the conclusion that the building should be demolished," Grosso said. "To even rehab it for any kind of usage would just be excessive. Too many things are in need of repair."

The task force was made up of Grosso, School Board member Tim Moran, Geneva School Superintendent Kent Mutchler and School District Director of Facilities Scott Ney.

"I have come full circle on this," Moran said, adding that he began the process with the "hopeful expectation to make this the district office."

"The more we got into this, the more it became apparent that it just isn’t cost effective," Moran said.

The School District presently is spending about $70,000 a year just to maintain the Coultrap facility, Grosso said.

Grosso emphasized that this was the first time other School Board members were hearing the task force's recommendation, and he acknowledged the need for additional discussion and a public hearing.

Grosso and Moran also talked about the "sentimental reasons" to keep the facility intact. The building has served as a high school, a junior high school, Geneva's first middle school, an elementary school and now is used for storage as well as to host School Board meetings. 

"The sentimental issues are not to be minimized," Moran said. "But the fact remains that it’s a dinosaur, it’s in poor shape, and I don’t think it’s prudent to renovate a portion of this building."

Grosso said after the meeting he did not believe that the Coultrap facility was within the city's Historic District. Recently, public outcry contributed to the city of Geneva's decision not to demolish the former Pure Oil building, a historic former gas station on State Street.

School Board member Mary Stith said she would like to hear more about "the option of still selling" the Coultrap building, without demolition.

"Obviously it’s not in good shape," she said. "(But) I still need to know whether it’s of value to anybody else. I’d like to have that discussion and get that information. Also, it’s going to be important that the people in this neighborhood be notified. We need to make sure people are not surprised if we go with the option of demolition."

In other action, members of the TaxFACTS group called for School Board members to resign and continued to press the board to investigate the reasons it allowed inflated enrollment estimates to be used in materials provided to voters prior to a $79 million school-buildling referendum in 2007.

Sandra Ellis asked for more than the allotted five minutes to lay out the concerns of TaxFACTS and other citizens. Grosso gave her a few extra minutes but did not allow her to continue until a second public-comment portion of the meeting.

"Until you decide to take a look back … can we trust any decisions that the School Board makes?" Ellis asked.

Geneva Patch will follow at a later date with a more complete story on the enrollment-projection issue.