The City Council on Monday approved a tentative agreement to deed land to Bartlesville Public Schools for its agricultural program, contingent upon the school district securing funding to construct the necessary facilities.
The council voted 4-0 in support of a memorandum of understanding with BPS for the use of a 5.5-acre tract of land located adjacent to the Bartlesville High School campus in the 1800 block of South Shawnee Avenue for the construction of an agricultural sciences facility.
“The Bartlesville School District is interested in expanding the academic offerings of the current agricultural sciences program and, to do so, would need to construct a new facility,” Community Development Director Lisa Beeman said in a memo to the council this week. “Such a facility would potentially include additional classrooms, laboratories, an arena, livestock pens, a greenhouse and other related facilities.”
Beeman said that in looking for sites, the school district hoped to find one that could be integrated into the existing high school campus and began to discuss options regarding the adjacent, City-owned land with City staff.
“The City of Bartlesville owns approximately 112 acres of real property on the east side of Shawnee Avenue south of 18th Street,” Beeman said. “This land, all located within the Caney River floodway and floodplain, was donated to the City in the 1970s by the Jackson family for the construction of Pathfinder Parkway through this area.”
She said the City currently uses the westerly portion of the site for a Pathfinder Parkway trailhead and the path itself, as well as an 18-hole disc golf course.
“In discussions with the school, it became apparent that the tract necessary for the proposed agricultural sciences facility could be accommodated on this 112-acre site, without substantially interfering with the City’s existing land uses on this site,” she said.
Oklahoma State Law permits a municipal governing body to make gifts of any real estate belonging to the City to any institution in the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education or to any school district which is located in the municipality.
The conveyance of the tract is contingent upon the School District receiving funding approval to construct said facility. The agreement includes certain conditions, including a shared parking lot, re-establishment of the Pathfinder Parkway Trail, and re-establishment of the Shawnee Trails Disc Golf Course.