School district land shuffle

The Coeur d’Alene School District sold an unused, 10-acre piece of land near Canfield Mountain to the builder and developer Aspen Homes for $661,825.

The property on Thomas Lane was initially purchased in 1999 for $260,249 as a potential site for a new school, should the district expand.

The district is growing, but not in that area of Coeur d’Alene.

Laura Rumpler, the district’s director of communications, said the district is interested in using the money to buy property in the northwest part of the city where there is growth.

Brian Wallace, the Coeur d’Alene School District’s director of finance and operations, confirmed this, saying the district is looking to build a new elementary school.

“…we’re going to need one, our Long Range Planning Committee, their recommendation is that’s one of our highest needs and we don’t have a good [place to put one],” he said. “It’s a good piece of property, but between Borah, Bryan and Dalton Elementary, they cover that [area] just fine. If we put another school there we’d be busing kids across the district.”

Wallace said the district doesn’t have a specific piece of land in mind yet for this potential new school, but will start looking for one once the sale closes at the end of the month.

Aspen Homes was the only entity to bid on the property. The all-cash bid came in 13 percent above the minimal appraisal amount of $587,500. The company would not specify what its plans are for the property other than to develop it for residential purposes.