by Editorial Board
Sometimes our eyes are so fixed on the distant objective that we fail to look down at the pit directly in front of us.
The Burlington-Edison School Board was moved by the best of intentions when, in 2007, it purchased the 29 acres at Peterson and Pulver roads. But board members have stumbled into a financial pit at a huge cost to the school district’s taxpayers.
They bought overpriced land that they won’t be able to use.The agricultural community is determined to resist any further urbanization of some of the best soils in America.
Skagit County residents have continuously supported policies that protect farmland and the county commissioners have repeatedly stated that as a primary goal.
In the face of clear evidence that converting the land to school use would be a long shot at best, the board went ahead anyway.And the district paid a premium — $63,000 per acre for agricultural land that is worth closer to $6,000 an acre.
The School Board knew the property was zoned for agriculture, yet accepted an appraisal that erroneously placed it within Burlington’s urban growth area, which, if true, would have cleared the way for a new school on the site.
Part of an appraiser’s method is to compare the property being evaluated to other “comparable” properties. But the properties used weren’t comparable at all.All the other parcels used to establish the price for the 29 acres were within existing urban growth areas or city limits.
When reporters for this newspaper asked district officials to allow the appraiser to explain the basis of his appraisal they declined, citing confidentiality.The problem is, too much of the board’s deliberations took place behind closed doors.
There was very little public discussion. On July 30, 2007, when the board emerged from executive session to vote in favor of buying the property, the public still had no idea how much the district was paying.
One of the district officials who might have been able to put the brakes on the board’s rush to buy is no longer here to share in the consequences — former Superintendent Rick Jones.The botched land deal is as much his legacy as it is the School Board’s, perhaps moreso.
His successor, Laurel Browning, is now forced to handle the fallout.Any criticism of her is unwarranted.
Generations of farm families have sent their children to Burlington-Edison schools and have been strong supporters of education. But many now see further loss of farmland — even for schools — as a threat to the survival of agriculture in the valley.
The Burlington-Edison school board now must consider its options, one of which is unlikely to be the construction of a school at Peterson and Pulver roads.
Editorials reflect the consensus opinion of the editorial board and are written by its members: Publisher L. Stedem Wood and newsroom editors Dick Clever and Colette Weeks. Signed columns reflect the authors’ viewpoints.
