Gardens among projects proposed by city officials for use at former school sites

BY NOLAN ROSENKRANS, BLADE STAFF WRITER

Published: 12/15/2012

 

Vacant lots where schools once stood now dot Toledo neighborhoods.  There’s the former Fulton Academy site in Old Towne, the Nathan Hale Elementary spot in Westmoreland, and the vast empty lot where Libbey High School once stood on Western Avenue, among others.  All told, more than 100 acres at about two dozen TPS properties are vacant and mostly grass after the completion of the district’s massive Building for Success program, which rebuilt and renovated dozens of schools while demolishing the old buildings.

 

Now, TPS is faced with what to do with all that unused property, many of which may end up, at least temporarily, in city hands.  City departments this year surveyed the sites, vetting which ones may be of interest for the city, for either the city to redevelop or transfer to interested third-parties, with eyes toward assurances that those uses would fit the city’s 20/20 comprehensive plan, Mayor Mike Bell’s spokesman Jen Sorgenfrei said.

 

A list compiled by the city this summer shows potential uses for some sites.  They’re more ideas than concrete plans, but do give some sense of what might come.  A senior housing project affiliated with Warren AME Church of Toledo is proposed for the former Warren Elementary site on Woodruff Avenue.  A community garden is possible at the former Lagrange Elementary site at Lagrange and Erie streets.  And there could be future housing development at the Fulton site. ... District officials hope to start presenting options for properties early 2013, and city officials could have a similar time frame for a final revision for their list of desired TPS properties.

 

READ MORE: http://www.toledoblade.com/Education/2012/12/15/Gardens-among-projects-proposed-by-city-officials-for-use-at-former-school-sites.html

A bit more about the above story from Ohio NPR station's State Impact website:

 

Toledo School Transformation Plan Leaves 100 Acres of Vacant Lots