Unit 4 Property To Be Used To Raise Soybeans
Sign that Champaign Unit 4 placed at its Interstate Drive site, before two failed referendums last spring and fall. (Jim Meadows/WILL)
Champaign's Unit 4 Schools has leased land that was to be used for a new Central High School for growing crops for at least part of next year.
Monday night, the Unit 4 School Board unanimously approved a 1-year lease agreement with the United Way of Champaign County.
It will pay $10,000 for a portion of the land on Interstate Drive. The site was the focus of two failed referendums last spring and fall.
School Board President Chris Kloeppel said the United Way will rely on donations to plant 40 acres of soybeans.
Through the United Way’s Feeding Families Initiative, funds made from crop sales will go to food banks and other charities.
Kloeppel said the lease that expires next March could be renewed. But he also suggests other uses for Unit 4 to explore.
“What does that neighborhood look like in 20 years – do they need an elementary school there?," Kloeppel said. "There’s a younger neighborhood there that has younger families in it. And also the pure educational opportunities we could have kind of in a field area near an industrial area.”
Kloeppel says future projects on the land could include studies in wind and solar power.
Links
- Voters Again Reject Unit 4’s School Construction Initiative
- Park Board Rejects Unit 4 Dodds Proposal
- Champaign’s Unit 4 Schools Begin Tours Before $144 Million Referendum Vote
- Opponents Of Unit 4 Referendum Want To “Keep Central Central”
- Unit 4 Board Approves New Bond Issue
- Unit 4 Proposes $144 Million Bond Issue
- Tentative Amount For Unit 4 Referendum: $150 Million
- Champaign Schools Eye Dodds Park As New Central High School Location