The old Cherry Hill School building, slated for demolition, could be preserved for village office space and Park District program space, according to a village trustee.
Trustee Dave Smith said discussion of a possible takeover of the building should be added to the agenda of the Village Board work session scheduled for Tuesday.
The school at 2800 E. Washington St., built in the 1960s, was due to be enlarged to serve as the kindergarten center for New Lenox Elementary School District 122, but expensive drainage requirements made it more cost-effective to tear down the old school and build a new one.
“It’s a good-size building,” Smith said. Taking over the building would save the school district the cost of demolition and provide added space for village staff offices and Park District programs, he said.
District 122 Supt. Tom Mullins said building plans would have to be altered if the village wanted the existing school and the school board agreed.
“There would have to be some variances,” Mullins said. Storm-water detention, septic fields and the well are expected to occupy the site of the old school, he said.
Village officials became involved in the Cherry Hill building project last month when some residents in the adjacent Cherry Hill subdivision complained the plan was using up recreational space.
Village officials, who own 1.25 acres of the Cherry Hill property, gave the school board’s contractors permission to dig on their land, but delayed action on a request to cede the land until the school board reached an accommodation with the neighbors.
A decision on the land question is expected next month.
In a related matter, Smith said some neighbors are worried about materials used to fill in a pit the school’s builders dug on village property.