"I’m very happy to announce that an agreement has been signed for an option to purchase two parcels of land, totaling 20 acres, for school construction," Superintendent Pat Evenson-Brady told the school board Wednesday evening at its regular meeting.

The land is located northwest of the intersection of Belmont Avenue and Fairview Drive on the west side of Hood River, and is zoned Rural Residential, she said.

But before any school facilities can be constructed on these parcels, the urban growth boundary must be expanded to include them, since Oregon land use regulations require that schools be constructed either within the UGB or outside a three-mile-wide buffer around it. The land is also currently in the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area and a federal process will be required to change the scenic area boundaries.

The land analysis process to bring the parcels into the UGB is underway and will require work with the City of Hood River and Hood River County Commissions and planning boards as well as the Gorge Scenic Area Commission, Evenson-Brady said.

"The purchase option will not be exercised unless the land can be used for school construction," she said in a press release Friday. "The school district board will proceed with planning the most cost-effective method to provide the additional classroom space needed now."

The school district’s attempts to acquire land for school construction have spanned more than three years and included a special bill for Hood River in this session of the Legislature.

The failure of that bill means that the school district will likely not be able to build on the Asai property, at Belmont and Alameda, since that property is zoned High Value Farmland and is 500 yards outside the UGB. The school district’s option on that property extends to Dec. 31, 2007.