COEUR d'ALENE - School trustees in Coeur d'Alene gave the go-ahead Monday for the district's administration to move forward with a plan to sell several acres of land to generate financing for a new home for the school district's central office.

A sealed bid process will be used to find buyers for two pieces of land owned by the district, the Northshire property at the intersection of Atlas and Nez Perce roads, and the district's 3.8-acre portion of Person Field, on 15th Street.

Wendell Wardell, the school district's chief operations officer, detailed the plan for trustees at Monday's board meeting and acknowledged that both pieces of land are important to some residents because they have been used as park space, especially Person Field.

"We know that this is an emotional one," Wardell said. "Person Field. What? I don't mean to be facetious. It's recognition of the fact that it's a very community-oriented subject, one that means a lot to a lot of people. At the same time, we shouldn't be in the park business. It's a non-performing asset."

School districts can only sell property for a price not less than the land's appraised value, through a sealed bid process, or they can trade it with another government entity.

The Northshire property has been appraised for $550,000, and the Person Field appraisal is $655,000.

A potential buyer has expressed interest in the Northshire land.

Wardell said the school district approached the city of Coeur d'Alene to see if it would be interested in each of the properties, and gave it 30 days to consider acquiring them, but the city turned the school district down.

Wardell said school officials were surprised by the city's lack of interest.

Coeur d'Alene City Administrator Wendy Gabriel testified during the meeting that while the city would like to have the properties, it doesn't have the cash available to meet the school district's timeline.

"Our preference is that they remain public properties," Gabriel said.

During his presentation, Wardell and Superintendent Hazel Bauman discussed the district's longtime need for a new central office location.

For several years, employees working in the building on 10th Street have experienced allergy-like symptoms and upper respiratory conditions sparking concerns about air quality in the building. Industrial hygiene and environmental specialists have been unable to identify a specific problem, and multiple efforts to remediate the problem have been fruitless.

"Not only is it a sick building, but we just don't have room," Bauman said.

There are 20-30 district employees working in other buildings, she said.

The demolition costs for the district building are included in the $32.7 million school building bond voters approved in August. The funds are part of those allotted for the renovation of Sorensen Elementary School, which sits adjacent to the district office building.

"The discussion about the district office went on for several months, while we were working up the bond proposal," said school board chair Tom Hamilton. "It was the recommendation of the long range planning committee, which the board ultimately supported, both that the district office be relocated because of the safety and health concerns."

The committee also decided, Hamilton said, that the funds for the new district building should not be included in the bond because it did not deal directly with the health and safety of students, as the other bond items did.

Three of the four trustees present for Monday's meeting, Hamilton, Terri Seymour and Jim Hightower, voted in favor of the real estate sale plan.

Ann Seddon opposed the motion.

"I'd like to see more effort go into trying to find a way to keep it (Person Field) a park," Seddon said.

Wardell said the district hopes citizens come forward to help find a creative solution to selling the downtown park.