Schools
Board to Consider Appraisals for District Properties
One of the proposals on the Centennial School Board agenda for Tuesday is to consider hiring a professional appraiser to evaluate the value of the former Hart Elementary, the district administrative building and playing fields located on Newtown Road.
Before any decisions can be made about the use of properties owned by the Centennial School District, the Ad Hoc Land Use Committee wants to see just how much the real estate is worth.
That's the proposal set to be presented to the full board Tuesday night at the regularly scheduled meeting. If approved, George Senpiel will conduct appraisals of the former Hart Elementary, which had served as Warminster Township's recreation center for more than 20 years, the current district administrative building, and some soccer fields located on Newtown Road, across the street from the entrance to William Tennent. The total cost is $2,200.
According to the proposal, the appraisals are basically a fact-finding project to determine the value of the land, reducing the cost for Senpiel's service. If district officials decide to put any of the properties up for sale, supportive legal information will be included for an additional fee.
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Centennial accepted full ownership of the Hart Elementary property at the March 27 board meeting, months after Warminster officials decided that maintaining the WREC Center had become too costly. The Parks and Recreation Department is in the process of moving its offices to a modular building set up at the Warminster Community Park.
In 1988, Centennial allowed Warminster to start using the former Hart Elementary for recreational purposes, but maintained a clause on the lease that would enable the district to repossess the property. This clause prevented the township from making any long-term capital improvement projects on the building out of fear that a completely renovated building would be too attractive for district officials.
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An attempt was made in 2009 by township officials to purchase the clause for $1 million, with $272,000 coming from waivers of fees for the high school construction project, and the difference from grant money that ended up falling through. The Centennial School Board agreed to reimburse the $272,000 in waivers at the same March meeting.
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