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Show Public will have say on Woodward proposals) By MARTA MURVOSH(3' ihe Spectrum . ST. GEORGE - The annex huilding of a 96-year-old landmark school .:ould tind a use as an alternative high ,chool. if the school board finds favor '.\ ilh the proposal. Community members can have their say at 7:30 p.m .. Thursday, June 25. on this and other suggestions put fo rth by committee members making recommendations about the Wood- ward Sixth-Grade Center. The meeting location is not final. but will probably be in the historic school. 15 S. 100 West, St George. It will be the second public hearing held to discuss the beloved school. The li rst was in March. After the hearing, committee members will revise their proposals and present them to the Washington County School District Board. Not all committee members support saving the annex building, which was added to the Woodward campus in the 1930s and once was the di strict clemeDtar)! school. St. George Mayor Dan McArthur said he wasn 't convinced the anne x building was located in the best place for other uses. such as open space. McArthur also said he wasn't comfortable with relocating Millcreek High School downtown. But Randy Wilkinson supported the proposal. It keeps the 8-acre campus in public ownership and provides Illf'g-term occupants who can pay to '. ''1tain the buildings. tI' s a great-location for Millcreek," Wilkinson said. The district has land near Pine View High School in an industrial area tha co uld be used for Millcreek, bu [here's no money to build on it. said Catherine Miles, a school board member who sits on the Woodward com- • See WOODWA.!D on A~I \ JUN 021998 UTAH PRESS ASSOCIATION Clipping Service (801) 328-8678 SPECTRUM WOODWARD • Continued from At --r3 minee. · , The following are the suggested uses and changes the public will review later this month: • Sell or trade 1.5 t02 acres south of the existing district offices to Washington County for a new senior citizens' center: • Sell about 2 acres south of the Woodward building to St. George. which could include the gym building. for use as open space; • Use the money from the sales, between $900.000-$1.8 million to fund renovation of one or two of the three school buildings. • Convert the oldest of the three buildin!!s. with the bell tower, to replace the ove~-crowded district office: and • Restructure the parking, possibly "'- closing 100 West from Tabernacle to 100 South and paving other areas of the property. Options committee members have not reached agreement on, but want public feedback on. include: • Use the annex building to replace the existing Millcreek High site in 2002, when the lease with Washington ciry is up; • Use the annex for a district instructional center or additional district offices when growth requires it: and • Use existing district offices, 189 W. Tabernacle. as an instructional center. The mayor objected to paying for land the ciry initially gave the district. But Alison McArthur. a committee member, had a different view. "If I was from Hurricane or Enterprise. I'd say, ' Why use my (tax) money to give the ciry, which gets everything. anyway,' " she said. The city would get improved proper- rep~ ty and a gym, said Douglas Alder. resenting the Washington Counry Hi~~ 1( toric Society. Miles said she also supported putting a children's museum, suggested at the March hearing, in one of the buildings and proposed using the Woodward gym to expand the county library. east of the school. and for an instructional center and museum. There is a need for a central location for a counry' museum. but there is no organization that can be counted on to fund a long-term. complicated venture. Alder said. The annual operating budget of a children's museum in nonhern Utah is $500.000. Alison McArthur said. Gilbert Jennin!!s, a committee member. wanted to I~k into other tenants for the Woodward building and ways to fund museums. .. [ hate to close off the discussion before looking at additional funding (SOu~~.~,~::.~:~~~~~~:ai~. . " . -;) |
