AVON — The same plea was repeated time and again by members of the crowd of about 100 gathered Tuesday night at Heritage North Elementary: Don’t take Mary Jane Wolfe’s land by force.

Wolfe, 57, owns about 25 acres of land at 2758 Center Road — a property that Avon school board President Dale Smitek described as the absolute best place to build a new junior high school.

The board voted 3-2 last month to try to seize that property in court for roughly $30,000 an acre.

But Wolfe had a room full of supporters Tuesday as she protested that decision.

“I don’t deserve to be treated this way,” she said. “I am asking the board to just leave me alone.”

Wolfe said her family has lived on the farm since 1955. She’s lived there all but 14 years of her life, and her life partner died at their house there in 2005.

Developers have been making offers to buy the farm for years, but Wolfe said she wants to keep the land and pass it on to her family.

She got hugs from several of the people who defended her.

“You’re putting her (Wolfe) in a position where she has to fight just to keep what is hers,” said resident Tom DeChant.

He said the school board shouldn’t use eminent domain — a law that lets government claim property needed for public good for a price determined by a judge — when there is so much other land for sale in the city.

Jay Pickering said he knows exactly what Wolfe is experiencing.

Five years ago, the district tried to seize about three acres of his property to build Heritage South Elementary, he said. The community fought back and the school board relented, and the district managed to build Heritage South and the district bus garage without his property, he said.

“You don’t know how it feels to be in my shoes or in Mary Jane’s shoes,” he told the board.  “I know you can do it. You can rescind this vote to use eminent domain.”

Smitek acknowledged that the issue is emotional. But, he said, Avon Schools need to do something as they are growing more and more crowded as new families move into the community.

The board hasn’t finalized plans on the new school, only that it should be started by 2011.

One option is to have it house only seventh- and eighth-graders, which is expected to cost $19 million. Another is to build it for sixth,- seventh- and eighth-graders, upping the cost to $21 million, he said.

The board added onto the high school in 2006 to stave off overcrowding, he said, and that spelled out the need for a new junior high, too.

But that’s going to cost money, and the district will need voters to pass a bond issue — possibly as soon as 2010, he said.

That didn’t sit well with the crowd.

“We will not pass a levy,” said resident David Vargo. “In two years, we will not forget… we are going to continue this fight until then and beyond.”

After about an hour, Smitek cut off additional comments – saying he wasn’t hearing anything new. The crowd booed that edict.

Board member Kevin Romanchok made a motion to delay the eminent domain action for 90 days and create a panel of citizens to look at alternatives, but the motion died for lack of a second.

Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.

 

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