DANVILLE — Danville community members are pondering what to do with the former Danville intermediate school building, pending its potential destruction.
The current Danville Local Schools administrative building is expected to move, after the board purchased a former driving school/Sew Special Network at 203 Richard St for $170,000, according to August property transfers.
“Your help is needed if you are from or currently live in Danville Ohio: There is a serious question as to the future of the DANVILLE INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL BUILDING on Market Street,” Danville resident Patrick Crow’s Facebook post reads.
“A group has come together who would like to see the school building preserved and used as some sort of center to benefit the community. If you are from or currently live in the Danville area, please complete the following survey to help us ascertain community interest in such an endeavor.
If you are from Danville, please share this post.
Thank you for your help!!”
Danville Superintendent Jason Snively would like to see the building demolished to bring extra parking spots and needed security, he said. If it was demolished, a total of 75 parking spots would be next to the high school.
A top priority is to secure area entering access for the high school, which is part of Danville’s upcoming levy.
“Hopefully next fall we’re moving to the property on Richard Street,” Snively said.
The poll includes options such as:
· Relocation and expansion of the Danville Public Library, which would serve as the anchor tenant of the building.
· Visitor Information Center
· Rental space for small business owners
· Space for classes in art, crafts, music, dance, physical fitness, etc.
· Computer Technology Lab
· Danville History permanent display
· Meeting space for clubs and organizations
· Farmer’s Market, Arts & Crafts Market
On updating the building, Snively said it’d take “a lot of money to update the building and put all those activities, and to pay rent for the building.”
“The biggest challenge for us is, we need some parking here,” he said. “We work for the community and the community supports the school.”
For the building to be upgraded, the intermediate school would need roughly $3 million in repairs alone, before adding new items to make it a library or a computer center, Snively estimates.
It needs new HVAC units, plumbing, roofing, windows and it isn’t ADA accessible.
Crow was informed about the potential demolition of the intermediate school three months ago. A group of Danville citizens was formed, Crow included, to discuss potential solutions for the intermediate school, rather than creating additional parking spots.
The reason behind the survey, Crow said, is for Danville residents and school alumni “to tell us what they think and what it ought to be used for.”
Crow acknowledges the list of repairs needed for the intermediate school is vast and won’t be cheap to fix.
This brought back a quote from Crow’s friend Bill Stroud, CEO for First Knox National Bank: “Don’t tell me how much it costs, tell me what the need is and we’ll find the money.”
