Unit 4 Board Meeting and Farmland

Yesterday's News-Gazette had some interesting information on the undeveloped land north of Interstate 74 the school owns from previous school plans. The vote it refers to passed last night (see follow up article below), but these excerpts from that article highlight the United Way project leasing the land:

A new purpose for Unit 4's pricey purchase on Interstate Drive
Four years after Unit 4 spent $3.2 million for 80 acres of farmland near Interstate Drive, the onetime would-be home of the new Champaign Central High School will serve a dual purpose this summer.

While the bulk of the land will continue to be used by the United Way to harvest crops, under an agreement that will be put to a vote at tonight's school board meeting, a smaller chunk will be reserved for referendum-related projects.

"The district is using a couple acres to store topsoil from the Tommy Stewart Field project to then be able to reuse when it's needed at some of our other projects," said Tom Lockman, Unit 4's chief financial officer...

Not anywhere in those referendum plans is any use for the Interstate Drive farmland, which was scrapped as the next home of Central after two failed attempts at getting voters' approval...

As part of the deal, the United Way would pay Unit 4 $18,000 to lease the farmland — with half due on Aug. 1 and the other half on Nov. 1.

Proceeds from the sale of crops harvested by the United Way are donated to local food pantries as part of the Farmers Feeding Families program.

Full article here with more information on the related referendum projects and other details. Today's paper had updates on last night's Unit 4 Board meeting:

Oversight panel grows by nine new members
A citizens’ committee that provides oversight for Unit 4’s various facility projects has nine new members.

On Monday night, the Champaign school board voted 7-0 to add members to the Referendum Oversight Committee, whose six current members have been meeting since December...

The board also voted Monday to approve an amendment to a contract with Clark Dietz to provide private utility locating services as part of the Centennial High and Tommy Stewart Field projects.

It also voted to extend by one year a cash farm lease agreement with The United Way for the farmland in north Champaign.

Full article with a list of the new members of the Referendum Oversight Committee here.