Howard School Project
Hamilton County Commissioners say schools are getting raw deal in land swap
CITY OF CHATTANOOGA
Contributes:
• Dogwood Manor Apartments -- $1.7 million
• Total contributed -- $1.7 million
Receives:
• Portion of East Brainerd Elementary site -- $1.4 million
• Cash -- $297,436
• Total received -- $1.7 million
HAMILTON COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION
Contributes:
• East Brainerd Elementary site -- $ 2.3 million
• Total contributed -- $2.3 million
Receives:
• Former Poss Homes site -- $1.87 million
• Cash -- $429,466
• Total received -- $2.3 million
CHATTANOOGA HOUSING AUTHORITY
Contributes:
• Former Poss Homes site -- $1.87 million
• Cash -- $726,902
• Total contributed: $2.6 million
Receives:
• Dogwood Manor Apartments -- $1.7 million
• Portion of East Brainerd Elementary site -- $897,436
• Total received -- $2.6 million
Source: Dogwood Manor Request for Proposals, City of Chattanooga
A proposed three-way land swap among the city of Chattanooga, Hamilton County Schools and Chattanooga Housing Authority has county commissioners fuming and feeling as if they've been "hoodwinked."
The proposed deal involving cash and three properties -- East Brainerd Elementary School, the old Maurice Poss Homes site and Dogwood Manor Apartments -- appears to short the schools, according to seven of nine county commissioners.
The other two commissioners, Warren Mackey and Greg Beck, are said to have helped broker the deal and did not return calls for comment Monday.
Though School Superintendent Rick Smith submitted a written proposal to CHA and the city March 28, most county commissioners only learned about the swap in the last few days. Although the commission doesn't own any of the property involved, commissioners say they don't like the apparent secrecy surrounding the deal, noting that during a May 2 commission meeting in which the East Brainerd property was discussed, the three-way swap was not mentioned at all.
The commission recently paid $3.4 million for the site of the former David Brainerd private school and gave the land to the school system to use for a new East Brainerd Elementary. Commissioners hoped the sale of the former school site would offset the purchase price of David Brainerd.
"It just really makes you feel like you've been sort of hoodwinked," commission Chairman Larry Henry said.
Other commissioners say the deal makes the commission's rocky relationship with school officials even rougher.
"That's just the kind of crap that builds fences between the commission and the board of education," Commissioner Tim Boyd said.
CHA officials already voted in support of the proposal, and the Chattanooga City Council is slated to vote on the city's portion of the swap tonight.
It's unclear when the school board may vote on the plan and, on Monday morning, many school board members didn't even know the details. On Monday evening, Chairman Mike Evatt sent out a memo outlining details of the proposed land swap.
Smith wasn't available for comment Monday.
Evatt said discussions over the proposal have been in the works for months. The board generally waits on such agreements to be made by administrators before considering them in a formal vote, he said.
"I get tired of people saying, 'You're keeping secrets.' There's no secrets," Evatt said. "We pay our administrators and our superintendents to look at these projects, negotiate possible land purchases and, if they are successful in negotiation, then they bring it to the board or to the commission."
In the current plan, the city proposes to shed Dogwood Manor, a public housing property that it no longer wants. In return, it would gain a portion of the East Brainerd Elementary site and $297,436 in cash.
CHA wants to trade the former Poss Homes site, a vacant 20 acres it's been trying to sell for six years. It will also pay a total of $726,902 to the school system and the city and will receive a portion of the East Brainerd Elementary site from the school system. CHA will get Dogwood Manor.
The schools would dispose of the East Brainerd Elementary property in exchange for $429,466 to help pay for the demolition of the school building. It would take the Poss Homes property and build a new track and football field next to the Howard School for Academics and Technology.
CHA board Chairman Eddie Holmes said Commissioners Beck and Mackey and school officials championed the project to replace Howard's dilapidated track and stadium.
"The Poss property was the driving force," Holmes said. "I think we're getting an excellent deal."
CHA plans eventually to build low-income senior housing on its share of the East Brainerd site, he said.
School officials came to county commissioners on May 2 to seek approval for creating an architect selection committee, the first step toward building a new East Brainerd Elementary. There was no mention of the proposed three-way swap, though documents show it had been in the works for more than a month.
"I'm highly disappointed that, prior to ongoing negotiation with the school board concerning the East Brainerd property, that a covert agreement had been made and not disclosed to the County Commission," said Commissioner Mitch McClure.
At the May 2 meeting, Henry said the property's sale would help offset purchase of the David Brainerd School. Most commissioners were under the impression that East Brainerd's former site would be sold at fair market value, which they thought was about $3 million or more.
In January, the county Department of Education received an appraisal of the nine-acre East Brainerd Elementary site, which valued the property at $2.34 million. Of that, the appraisal recommended 31/2 acres could be used for future senior housing at a $897,436 value while another 5.47 acres, worth $1.4 million, would be for future mixed-use development.
Dan Thornton, Chattanooga's General Services Administration head, said the city intends to continue negotiations for all nine acres.
He noted that, although the CHA is promised 2.8 acres at the rear of the East Brainerd site, "I prefer to have the back side [of the property] and trade another site they can use for affordable housing."
The city intends to sell its portion of the site for development. Thornton said the city wouldn't have agreed to the swap without a piece of the East Brainerd site.
The Board of Education would lease back the school at an undetermined, but likely nominal cost until December 2014, months after the new East Brainerd School is scheduled to be finished, Assistant School Superintendent Gary Waters said.
While school leaders note that informal discussions about buying the Poss Homes property have been ongoing for years, the placement of this specific plan on the City Council's agenda brought the issue to the forefront.
"It's taken all of us by a little bit of surprise that it's moving this rapidly," said Waters, who oversees school facilities.
Chattanooga City Councilman Benson reports calls with questions about land swap deal
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William jack Benson
Photo by Tim Barber /Chattanooga Times Free Press.
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City Councilman Jack Benson said his phone began ringing at 6 a.m. today with questions about a proposed three-way land swap among the city, Hamilton County Schools and The Chattanooga Housing Authority.
The City Council tonight delayed a vote on land swaps until next week. The properties involved include East Brainerd Elementary School, Dogwood Manor Apartments and the former Maurice Poss Homes site.
In addition to some cash, the schools would end up with the Poss Homes site for a new Howard School for Academics and Technology football stadium and track.
CHA would have Dogwood Manor and about 2.8 acres of the 9-acre East Brainerd site for a low-income senior housing development.
The city will get the remaining 6.25 acres to sell for commercial development.
East Brainerd Elementary is in Benson's district, and he said residents and developers are mad about the prospect of CHA housing there.
"Developers have been calling out there ever since they realized this was going to be available," he said. "You reduce it by 2 acres and we're going to lose in the market value."
The property is near residential areas.
"We've got a nice subdivision on the East of it," Benson said. "It's going to be a difficult adjustment out there for those coming and those going."
Dan Thornton, who heads the city's General Services Administration, said he's proposed three other surplus properties fit for housing to CHA and is attempting to get the full 9 acres.
published Wednesday, June 6th, 2012
Chattanooga City Council delays land swap vote
Laura McNutt.
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Staff Photo by John Rawlston — Dogwood Manor, a 136-unit apartment building owned by the city of Chattanooga and managed by the Chattanooga Housing Authority, is located on Gateway Avenue overlooking downtown Chattanooga.
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An old phonebooth sits in the vacant lot that used to be Poss Homes. Photo by Ashlie White
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East Brainerd Elementary School Photo by Margaret Fenton
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After a "firestorm of resistance" from East Brainerd residents, a divided Chattanooga City Council deferred voting on its part of a three-way land swap.
The Hamilton County Schools and the Chattanooga Housing Authority proposed the deal in late March in response to the city's request for proposals to sell Dogwood Manor Apartments, which the housing authority currently manages.
The proposed cash and land swap involves Dogwood Manor and two other properties -- East Brainerd Elementary School and the former Maurice Poss Homes site. The proposed swap would provide 6.25 acres of the East Brainerd Elementary site to the city to sell as development, and 2.8 acres to CHA for low-income senior or disabled housing.
East Brainerd Elementary is in Councilman Jack Benson's district, and he said residents and developers are mad about the prospect of CHA housing on the school site.
"There's a firestorm of resistance out in our community on this," Benson said in the council agenda session.
On Benson's motion, the council voted 5-4 to defer the vote for another week.
Benson said he wants to dump Dogwood Manor, but that he couldn't support the proposed trade because of the subdivision of the East Brainerd site.
"Developers have been calling out there ever since they realized this was going to be available," he said. "You reduce it by two acres and we're going to lose in the market value."
He also doesn't think the site is an appropriate place for public housing.
"We've got a nice subdivision on the east of it," Benson said.
Dan Thornton, head of the city's General Services Administration, said he's attempting to trade one of three other surplus properties to CHA for the full nine acres.
In Tuesday night's meeting, Mayor Ron Littlefield's Chief of Staff Dan Johnson told council members Thornton wanted an extra week.
Councilman Peter Murphy said he wanted to approve the three-way swap and work out the trade to get all of the East Brainerd side later.
He, Russell Gilbert, Deborah Scott and André McGary voted against deferral. Council members Benson, Carol Berz, Manny Rico, Sally Robinson and Pam Ladd voted to defer.
Thornton said all three parties agree on the transaction, though the school board hasn't voted on the issue.
In the deal, the schools would end up with the 20-acre Poss Homes site to be used for a new Howard School for Academics and Technology football stadium and track and cash to demolish East Brainerd Elementary.
CHA would get Dogwood Manor.
Board of Education member George Ricks, whose district includes Howard, told council members he thought he'd have the votes on school board.
"We need the property and we've been working on this a long time," he said. "It will be brought probably at the next board meeting, according to our chairman."
If not, council members asked Thornton if the city would finalize the deal without the East Brainerd site.
"I'm not sure about Poss Homes being a value to us," he said.
Murphy said, "It may not be a huge asset, but it's not as much of a liability [as Dogwood Manor.]"
A Chattanooga, CHA reach deal on East Brainerd Elementary site
Chattanooga officials have worked out a deal with the Chattanooga Housing Authority to sell, rather than develop, any property they get in a three-way land swap at the East Brainerd Elementary site.
The revised deal means that CHA won’t build low-income housing on the site, and that’s likely enough to gain City Council support.
Dan Thornton, head of the city’s General Services Administration, said he met with CHA officials Thursday night and they agreed to take a percentage of the profits after both parties acquire and sell the land. The 9-acre East Brainerd site appraised in January for about $2.3 million.
Councilman Jack Benson, who put the brakes on a City Council vote Tuesday night because he was opposed to subdividing the parcel, said he can support it now. Four council members already had signaled support, so there’s likely a council consensus to move the deal forward at Tuesday’s council meeting.
The complicated property deal stems from the city’s request for proposals to sell Dogwood Manor Apartments.
In the proposed swap, the city would trade away Dogwood and end up with 6.25 acres of the East Brainerd Elementary site.
The schools would get cash and CHA’s former Poss Homes site near Howard School of Academics and Technology.
CHA would get Dogwood and 2.8 acres at the East Brainerd Elementary site, plus some cash.
The school board has yet to vote on the deal. One board member, David Testerman, released a statement Thursday saying he doesn’t support the trade.
Read the full story in Saturday’s Times Free Press.
racial tone
The proposed three-way land swap of properties owned -- and unwanted -- by city government, the county school board and the Chattanooga Housing Authority shouldn't be controversial. Even as amended, it's still mutually beneficial for each party. Regrettably, however, it's been played by political and racial concerns that have threatened to unwind it.
The properties involved in the patiently negotiated deal are:
• Dogwood Manor, the last of the three West Side high-rise towers off Martin Luther King Boulevard for low-income seniors and disabled citizens that the city still owns. Though the building is fully occupied, city officials have long wanted to sell it and get out of the housing business.