State offers DCPS $250,000 for small portion of Highland property

November 20, 2019 | 3:10 am

Updated November 20, 2019 | 12:02 am

Highland Elementary School | File photo by AP Imagery

The Daviess County Board of Education discussed a right-of-way agreement that will affect Highland Elementary School in the near future as the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) works to expand KY 54. Highland’s property is valued extremely high, and DCPS said the state plans to pay over $250,000 for a small piece of that land.

“The state announced they would be expanding Highway 54 — basically from the bypass all the way out to Jack Hinton Road,” said Director of Finance Sara Harley. “In Phase 1, they will expand the bypass to Thorobred East on 54. Right in that area is Highland Elementary School.”

Harley said the state was proposing to purchase 6,700 square feet from DCPS, as well as a permanent easement of 4,700 square feet, and a temporary easement of 9,500 square feet from the school system.

Part of this purchase is to obtain part of Highland’s front yard to create a three-lane expansion of Highway 54, but this agreement will include a new turning lane for the school as well, Harley said.

“[That turning lane] is very much needed at Highland, and it would be heading toward the bypass” she said. “They are offering us $250,580, which is very fair. We are basically giving up about a tenth of an acre of our land.”

The land is valued at $300,000 an acre, so the offer is well above the land’s value, Harley said.

Board members said getting a left turn-lane into Highland will enhance the value of the property.

“If you take the square footage price that they’re giving us per acre, and mathematically figure out what that would be on an acre of property, it’s well over a million dollars per acre,” said Superintendent Matt Robbins. “It’s hard to wrap your brain around it, but that’s what acreage is selling for in that area.”

Highland will be required to remove the brick entry sign in front of its property, but Robbins said the state will take care of that as well.

“That’ll have to come down, so there’s compensation in here to replace that,” he said. “We would allocate that to the school for what they’d choose to do signage-wise because that belongs to the school.”

November 20, 2019 | 3:10 am

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