Earlier this year, the Stanley-Boyd Area School Board directed Superintendent Jeff Koenig to provide an update on two land parcels it owns on the Yellow River.
On Monday, Sept. 22 it received that update, but not before another update on cleaning up land agreement details in town.
“3.2 Potential easement with the City of Stanley and Town of Colburn School Land,” Board President Denise Hoffstatter announced from the agenda, followed by District Superintendent Jeff Koenig.
“So two topics that I’ve talked to you about in the past,” he said. “We currently have an agreement with the city to provide an easement for the water line that runs across our property. And also, our road runs just to the west side on the property.”
No one knew how long the water line had been there, with formal easement meant to clean things up that had been done less formally in the past.
“Just to clean things up because a lot of stuff in the past has been done through community groups through handshake agreements,” Koenig explained of the potential easement for the road running directly west of Stanley-Boyd High School.
“The city has always plowed that road for us. And also we have always cleaned the sidewalk past the junk yard. So we go past our property,” Koenig said.
The potential easement was still in process and not on the agenda.
As for school lands in the Town of Colburn, the board received an update on two land parcels, deeded to the “Stanley Board of Education” by the county in 1953 and the 1930s respectively. The parcels numbered 23005-2021-00000000 and 23005-3014-00000000 respectively, were originally deeded for use as school forest land have since been replaced in practical use by land nearer the school.
“The other issue is I have done some work on the two parcels of land we own up in Colburn,” Koenig said of the two parcels deeded for school use before Stanley-Boyd was formed. “One is called Patty’s Park. The other one, it doesn’t have river access, it’s just a little north of Patty’s Park. The one to the north does have on there that if we dispose of it then it becomes county forest. It is verified that’s what it is. I have not been able to get a response from the county as to whether they would work with us to remove that. However, the parcel that is Patty’s Park does not contain that and we could sell it. This came up last spring because we’ve had a lot of damage and vandalism done to Patty’s Park. And also just the liabilities we fall into because of people doing things there.”
Patty’s Park has received interest for sale due to access it provides to hunting lands across the Yellow River. Selling Patty’s Park was deemed advantageous for the district, with six to eight individuals reportedly reaching out to the district to express interest in purchase since the matter had been looked into. The parcel includes a site for a campground and has been used by others for access to hunting land on the east side of the Yellow River.
“Are there strong thoughts from the board on either parcel?” Koenig asked for board direction.
School board member Lance Carlson said kids had been brought to the north land parcel.
“It’s been quite a long time, but at one time we were actually taking school kids out to that property,” he said. Carlson also noted that part of the north parcel was on the other side of the road and that he thought the parcel had been logged at some point in the past, a point partially contested by Koenig.
“I don’t think it’s been logged off in the last 20 years,” he said, with different logging rules applying to school owned land. “So you’re right about the descriptions of those, because the one doesn’t have river access. That’s the one we can’t sell.” Koenig said he had consulted several people including agriculture teacher Jordan Donnerbauer, and that the school had not used the north parcel since it acquired land closer to the school building.
Board member Chad Verbeten said the district should consider several things for the north parcel, including having it appraised, the value of the land, and potential tax consequences before making a decision on reverting to the county.
“I realize we’re a school,” he said, saying he had learned school funding was a “unique thing,” meaning due diligence was in order.
“I think if anything else we need to explore a little more,” he said of the north parcel.
As for Patty’s Park, Carlson raised the possibility of whether the Town of Colburn would be interested in taking over the land by the river.
“I wonder if there would be any interest from the township of taking over the strip of land by the river,” Carlson said. “Any property can be set upon an easement boundary system.
Koenig said he would reach out to Colburn and act on school board guidance, while Carlson asked about a parcel the district had owned on Mud Lake.
“You’ll have to ask Jim about that,” Carlson said of former District Superintendent Jim Jones and land parcel history information.