City moves to buy Discover site; New Albany board discusses athletic campus, funding and field relocation

The City of New Albany is pursuing purchase of the 49.4-acre former Discover property and has proposed working with New Albany-Plain Local Schools on a linked athletic campus, school and city officials said at the Aug. 25 Board of Education meeting.

The proposal — prompted in part by the elementary school construction on the district campus and the need to relocate baseball and softball fields — would put new game and practice fields, supporting restrooms and a multipurpose building on the Discover site. The city’s planning staff has recommended a short master-planning process and told the board it expects to close on the land within about 90 days, administration members said.

Why it matters: the plan would relieve pressure on the existing campus and create room for future academic buildings, proponents said. It would also change who pays for new athletic infrastructure: the city told the district it would apply a $10 million commitment toward the purchase; board members and staff said that sum had been counted in earlier planning but that the city’s decision to buy the land means the school district’s permanent-improvement funds already earmarked for an athletic project must be reallocated or replaced.

Board discussion focused on three practical questions: the true cost to build and relocate baseball/softball facilities at the Discover site versus renovating or reconfiguring fields at Bevelheimer Park; whether a 50-year lease of part of the Discover property to the district would be the practical model; and how any city gift, private fundraising or corporate partnerships could…