(St. Leon, IN) – The Sunman-Dearborn School Board recently approved a lease agreement with the North Dearborn Community Park organization.
The 20-year lease allows the non-profit to apply for grants to use for the development of a park on part of the property where North Dearborn Elementary School once stood.
“Part of the reason for the lease agreement is some of the grantmakers will say if you have a long-term lease, and you don’t own it (the property), we’ll consider that. So we wanted to have that long-term lease in place to help with some of the fundraising efforts,” said Superintendent Dr. Andrew Jackson. “There’s enough land there where we can set aside about seven to eight acres for the park, and still have enough space for us if we want to use it for future programming.”
Phase I of the park organization’s plans call for a walking trail, and eventually other amenities including a playground.
“We’re excited to provide that to the community” added Jackson. We’re hopeful they can raise the funds and have a nice space there.”
There’s no word on when construction will start.
Since the school corporation still owns the property, any park improvements would have to be approved by the school board.
In addition, the school board heard a presentation from agriculture teachers Roy Johnson and McCord Snider last June to create an agri-science facility on the former North Dearborn Elementary property.
That proposal was taken under advisement.
