Homes on Mary Street recently purchased by the Columbia School District are being torn down to make way for parking across from Columbia Elementary School.
Superintendent Jason Harris said this week that the houses have been stripped.
“Hopefully, if the weather is on their side, the actual demolition could take about 10 days,” he said.
Harris said they’ve started surveying the property and will be able to take bids on the paving once that’s finished.
In September, the school district settled an eminent domain suit, agreeing to pay $105,000 for the property to Charles and Edwina Royce. The parking lot will be one of the final projects in a $10 million bond issue approved by voters in 2016.
In another construction project, Harris said the old dugouts at the high school baseball stadium were torn out a few weeks ago and the new dugouts are “coming along.” The CHS Baseball Booster Club is helping pay for those renovations to Sapen Field.
The Board was also recognized for School Board appreciation month during the meeting. Board members Marie Shepard, Rene Dungan, Donald Hales, Dr. Ronald Luethje and David McCance were honored recently during the Board’s Feb. 6 meeting and spent the week of Feb. 12 visiting the schools.
“The Governor declared the week of Feb. 11 School Board Appreciation Week,” Harris said. “Being a school board member is an important position and it is often a thankless job. One thing that we have in Columbia is a great school board and we should be proud and lucky to have the board members that we have. If you look at different parts of the state and the country, things don’t always go as smoothly as they do here.”
