Offer approved

!"The Bentonville City Council signed off on a contract to sell the property on which a historic schoolhouse stands to the Peel House Foundation for $60,000.

By Jeff Mores

Posted: July 29, 2009 at 9:08 a.m.

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BENTONVILLE — On Tuesday, the Bentonville City Council unanimously approved an offer and acceptance agreement to sell a piece of downtown property, on which it was discovered a post Civil War-era schoolhouse exists, to the Peel House Foundation.

The city purchased the property at 306 N.W. Second St. earlier this year for $198,657, along with two other pieces of property, intending to demolish the structures on the property and turn it into a downtown parking lot. According to the offer and acceptance agreement, the Peel House Foundation will purchase the residential structure and the mid-1800s schoolhouse encased in it, as well as a 10-foot green buffer around the perimeter, for $60,000.

Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin said the city will keep the remainder of the property, which with the other two lots will still be turned into a downtown parking lot. The parking-lot plans are being redrawn to reflect the sale of the schoolhouse portion of the property, according to McCaslin.

"I just want to thank (Bob McCaslin) and the people with the city who worked to resolve this issue," Alderman Mary Baggett said. "I think we did the right thing."

The Peel House Foundation - known for its work in preserving Col. Samuel W. Peel's 1875 mansion and its gardens along South Walton Boulevard - expressed interest in preserving the schoolhouse following adiscussion with Preserving Our History Inc., a group of citizens that discovered that the brick schoolhouse - one of the oldest known to exist in the state - was encased inside the newer residence.

"Part of our mission is to preserve and protect our historic district and the culture here in Benton County," Peel House Foundation Executive Director Leah Whitehead told The Daily Record earlier this month. "This (schoolhouse) is something we felt very strongly about preserving."

According to Whitehead, the foundation will preserve the schoolhouse and is exploring the possibility of using it to house the Benton County Historical Society, currently officed in the lower level of the Compton Gardens Event Center.

"That organization is such agreat historical resource, with wonderful materials," Whitehead said. "We're excited (the schoolhouse) will not only be preserved, but will also have a use."

The following agenda items were also approved:

◊An easement vacation at the site of a Kum and Go gas station at 2710 S.E. Moberly Lane;

◊An easement vacation at 205 S.E. George Town for Larry Eads;

◊The vacation of a public street in the Claypool addition;

◊The vacation of an alley in the Claypool addition;

◊The appointment of Andre Ballestra to complete Harvey Ricketts' unexpired term and David Lee to complete Craig Soos' unexpired term on the Airport Advisory Board; and

◊A bid to APAC-Arkansas Inc., McClinton Anchor Division, in the amount of $246,081.56 for asphalt overlay of city streets, Water Department drives and parking areas and wastewater lift-station areas.

News, Pages 1, 11 on 07/29/2009

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