Decatur’s school board approved entering into a contract for purchasing four acres on Talley Street, where City Schools Decatur hopes to build a new school. The vote came after an executive session last week and the news was confirmed Monday afternoon by City Attorney Robert Wilson.
The price tag is $5 million and CSD has until the end of March to close on the southeast Decatur property. There are very palpable contingencies. Purchasing the land likely depends on voters passing a $75 million General Obligation Bond in November. CSD will also have to conduct an environmental study since the land was once a storage site for automobiles.
Superintendent Phyllis Edwards has said the school system will need two new schools, a K-3 and 4/5 Academy, by 2018-19 or earlier. Talley Street has room for one school, though what type hasn’t been determined. The land sits directly across from an AT&T facility which the city hopes to eventually purchase and turn into a lake and park.
“In five years I don’t think that area will look anything like it looks today,” Wilson said. “The advantage to that location, it is accessible through two major corridors from the north (Commerce Drive and Sams Crossing), and neither is blocked by railroad tracks.”
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