BONITA SPRINGS, Fla. — The Bonita Springs City Council held their regular meeting Wednesday night and the big top of conversation was the historic, Bonita Springs Elementary School.
Nigel Fullick of District 5 says he reached out to Bonita's school board representative, Cathleen Morgan.
He says she told him the Lee County's school system was looking to tear down the school and the decision was firm.
In May the district decided certain buildings that make up the school needed to be torn down, with Council noting an alleged untreated termite infestation.
That school board agenda can be found here.
The Historical Society of Bonita Springs also stated school buildings 1 through 4 are slated for demolition.
"It's pretty much impossible to save the school," Nigel Fullick said at the beginning of the discussion on Wednesday night.
However, Council offered up a plan. Its members suggested to have a workshop with the school board and involve the public. They're encouraging people to reach out to the school board to advocate for it staying put, but with necessary changes to the buildings. In these meetings, the hope is for the two entities to find common ground on who would pay for the upkeep.
That disagreement fueled the council meeting.
Councilman Jesse Purdon of District 2 feels the school system should not have allegedly asked the city for financial contribution in the process, given it's not a city owned or operated building.
"They [the school district] want $10 million. That's half of the ad volorem we take in annually as a city and they want half of it with a $2.4 billion budget when they let it fall into disarray," Purdon said.
These claims are supported by documents on file at the City Clerk's office and in part shown below:
It's the only building in the city that is on the National Registry of Historic Places and has been in Bonita Springs since it was formerly called Survey in the 20s.
We reached out to the Lee County School District and below is their response:
As for some background, here’s some more context. District staff has been in direct communication with the City of Bonita Springs and the Bonita Springs Historical Society for several months regarding their desire to preserve the Historical Building on the Bonita Springs Elementary School campus. However, after architectural reports, it has been determined that the building must be torn down. The option of preserving the façade was explored as that would keep the historical designation even with a new structure behind it. The estimated cost for this was determined to be anywhere from 8-10 million dollars. In the School Board’s effort to be fiscally responsible and make spending decisions that are a direct benefit to our students, the current position of the District is that the preservation of the façade is no longer an option. However, knowing the city of Bonita Springs’ position, the District has presented the option of preserving the façade if the city covers the cost.
We will continue to follow this story and let you know when a town hall will be scheduled per the City Council's request.
