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Brooke County Development Group Plans to Market Former School Sites

The Brooke County Board of Education this week agreed to enlist the help of the Business Development Corp. of the Northern Panhandle in marketing the Follansbee and Wellsburg middle school sites to potential new owners.

Plans call for the schools to be closed in 2018, after a countywide middle school under construction near Brooke High School is completed.

“Our expertise is providing high-quality education to students, not in property development,” Superintendent Toni Shute said. “We reached out to the BDC, as the local development experts in repurposing and developing properties, to partner with us to not just repurpose these buildings, but to identify the best use of these properties for the taxpayers of Brooke County.”

The board approved a memorandum of understanding that is the first step in establishing the economic development group as manager and marketer for the schools and adjacent properties.

BDC Executive Director Pat Ford said a formal agreement will be presented to the board detailing terms of payment for the agency’s services. He said the arrangement may be similar to one for the Three Springs Industrial Park in Weirton, which is owned by the West Virginia Economic Development Authority but managed and marketed by the BDC.

Ford said in that case, the BDC uses fees paid by the state board for operations and marketing and any work required on that property.

“It’s important to note the Brooke County Board of Education will retain ownership and final say in the disposition of these properties,” he said. “The role of the BDC will be to leverage our relationships with state and federal agencies to obtain grant funding, where needed, to handle these buildings in an environmentally sensitive manner, paying great heed to the surrounding properties. Once the buildings are under the management of the BDC, we will be able to evaluate which alternative uses will provide Brooke County taxpayers the most value, as well as sustain the vitality these schools have brought to our county.”

Board of education President Brian Ferguson said the move will “take a lot of weight off the board’s shoulders as far as what to do with these properties, because we’re not in the (real estate) market.”

The board arranged to meet with Ford after a future work session to discuss the futures of the two schools and lots.

Rob Robinson, facilities director, told the board after the schools are closed, the board will continue to pay about $250,000 annually in utility costs for them. He said if the board chooses not to maintain them, it will cost at least $500,000 to demolish them.

Both schools were built in the 1920s, although the Carlin Dodrill Field House was added to the Follansbee school in 1955. The school and field house occupy 67,098 square feet of a 90,638-square-foot lot. Wellsburg Middle School is 69,212 square feet and sits on a 70,828-square-foot lot.

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