Jose de Wit
SUN Staff Writer
The Española School Board took its first step toward selling the old Sombrillo Elementary property.
The Board voted unanimously Aug. 20 to accept bids for surveying and appraising the District’s roughly 60-acre Sombrillo property, which includes the sites of Sombrillo Elementary’s former and current campuses.
The Board had said for months it was interested in selling the elementary school’s old campus, but did not kick off until now the lengthy process the District must go through before it can sell any property.
Once the Board finds out how much the land is worth and how many acres it wants to sell, state law requires the District to seek permission to sell the land from the state Finance Department before it can begin accepting bids from potential buyers. The state legislature must also give the transaction the thumbs up if it exceeds $100,000, the law states.
A debate about the language on the resolution nearly derailed the decision. The Board had delayed approving the resolution at a meeting two weeks earlier for similar reasons. The discussion revolved around a phrase in the resolution stating that “in order to offer the property for sale to the public,” it must first survey and appraise the land. Board member Andrew Chavez said he was worried the phrasing would commit the Board to sell the property and that it would create the impression that the Board was deciding to sell the land.
“I don’t want the public to come in and say, ‘What are you guys doing here?’ Chavez said.
The Board plans to hold a public hearing before it makes a final decision to offer the property for sale, and Chavez said he does not want the public to think the District is ready to sell before then. Chavez argued that, because the Board at this point is only deciding to survey and appraise the property, not to sell it, the resolution should reflect that.
Board Secretary Joann Salazar in turn argued the Board’s lawyer had already said the resolution would not bind the Board to any future decisions.
“I don’t think it’ll hold us to selling,” Salazar said. “It doesn’t bind us to make a final decision.”
The Board ultimately approved the resolution on the condition that the phrase would be changed to include the District’s two other options for disposing of that property: a donation to or exchange with another public agency.
The District is currently negotiating with other public agencies to dispose of two other pieces of land.
Plans to donate the 1.5-acre campus of the old Abiquiú Elementary to the Abiquiú Land Grant are on hold while attorneys review the District’s deed from the property, Board member Leonard Valerio said. The District bought the property from the Grant for $5 roughly 75 years ago, and the Grant wants it back to build a community center there, Valerio said.
Attorneys are reviewing the deed after a small handful of people approached Board members, claiming they are individual heirs, who have rights to that property, Valerio said.
“There’s nothing (on the deed) that says we have to give it back to past heirs,” Valerio said. “But we want to make sure there’s no claims to it.”
The Board also discussed in a recent closed session plans to exchange with the city of Española a plot of land adjacent to Española middle school on Industrial Park Road. The District wants a 2.5-acre, city-owned lot west of the middle school to build athletic fields, Board President Joe Romero said. In exchange, the city would get a District-owned plot of roughly 15 acres that the city could use to build a drainage pond.
The old Sombrillo Elementary has been vacant since the summer of 2007 when the school moved to a brand new facility. Over the past couple of years, the Española Military Academy and separately, the Sombrillo-based Sikh Dharma community has expressed interest in buying the old school.