Mansfield council to take last shot at deal for school auditorium

Posted Sunday, Nov. 15, 2009 Comments   (0) Print Share Share Reprints
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By ROBERT CADWALLADER

Special to the Star-Telegram

MANSFIELD — The City Council will make a last effort today to hammer out a deal with the Mansfield school district and a private developer aimed at bringing a $39 million school auditorium to The Shops at Broad Street.

The discussion will be in closed session, but Mayor David Cook said he hopes it produces a final proposal that the council can present publicly and vote on later in the meeting.

Employees of the school district and the city met last week to work on the agreement, under which the district would build the auditorium at the planned 1.2-million-square-foot retail complex at U.S. 287 and East Broad Street.

District officials had planned to build the 5,500-seat auditorium behind Ben Barber Career Tech Academy, at 1120 W. Debbie Lane. But for the past two months they have been considering an offer from the city and developer to build on the 105-acre site for The Shops.

Officials said Friday that many details on parking, drainage, site access and a land swap between the city and the school district remain to be worked out.

"There are some significant issues we’ve got to close if we’re going to do the deal for The Shops at Broad," school board President Gale Moericke said.

The council and The Shops developer, Forest City Enterprises, face a Tuesday deadline set by the school board.

"By Tuesday night, there will be some kind of tri-party agreement that the board will have to either approve or disapprove," Superintendent Bob Morrison said. "If the board doesn’t approve it, we go back to the Ben Barber site, and the negotiations are done."

Representatives of the city and developer believe that the center, which would be used for graduations, performing arts, training and other activities, would jump-start development of the retail complex, which has stalled during the economic downturn. School officials say the retail surroundings could increase attendance for events at the auditorium.

The deadline is needed to keep the project on schedule, Moericke said. Construction is set to begin in June and be completed by March 2012, in time for graduation services that spring.

If you go The special City Council meeting is at 5 p.m. today at City Hall, 1200 E. Broad St.

The Mansfield school board meeting is at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the school administration building, 605 E. Broad St.

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