Judge will examine lease for Boys & Girls Club

COEUR d'ALENE - It's going to the judge.

Coeur d'Alene school board members unanimously agreed Monday to seek judicial confirmation of a ground lease agreement that will allow the Boys & Girls Club of Kootenai County to build a facility on the grounds of Lakes Magnet Middle School.

"This can't happen soon enough for me," said Trustee Tom Hamilton before the vote.

If a judge gives the agreement a thumbs-up, confirming that it's constitutionally and statutorily sound, the school district will lease to the Boys & Girls Club one-third of an acre on the middle school campus at 15th Street and Hastings Avenue. The lease price will be $1 per year.

If the plan is approved, the nonprofit youth organization will run a capital campaign to finance the construction of the facility on the leased land. No school district or taxpayer dollars will be used to pay for the construction.

The school district will share use of the building when the Boys & Girls Club is not using it, mainly in the evenings and on the weekends. It will provide a second gym for Lakes Magnet Middle School, the only middle school in the district with just one gym.

Marc Lyons, the school district's attorney, told the board that the agreement and the resolution have been available for the public to review for several weeks. The school board held a public hearing July 28 and prior to that, information about the plan to seek judicial confirmation was published in the hearing notice.

Throughout this process, Lyons said, he has heard no objections from anyone.