August 27, 2007
An option to purchase an 11-acre property to the west of Westside School was authorized by the Hood River County School District Board of Directors in its Wednesday meeting.

The option is for three years, giving the board time to develop its plans to construct the currently needed classroom space and to see if another piece of property might meet the district’s needs.

“The property has an excellent location, but has the same barriers to development as the 20-acre Rocky Road-Fairview site where we also have an option to purchase,” said Superintendent Pat Evenson-Brady.

Both properties are zoned Rural Residential, are inside the Scenic Area, outside the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB), and within the 3-mile growth buffer around the UGB where Oregon land use rules prohibit schools construction.

Either property would need to be brought into the Urban Growth Boundary and removed from the Scenic Area in order to construct a school. The rules and process for both a federal and Oregon land use change will have to be followed.

To use the land for athletic fields, if current fields are used for added classroom space, will require a federal process. A land use study is currently underway to determine if the federal standards can be met to use a parcel of the Scenic Area for this purpose.