Board reviews 30‑year lease alignment with Hanley Trust for donated practice fields

Staff briefed the board on a proposed alignment of Hanley Trust lease agreements following an alumni donation of about 20 acres near Jeff Street intended for practice fields and athletics. The plan would standardize several existing leases (the Hanley Board of Trust already owns land around Hanley and leases to the division for $1 in longstanding arrangements) and extend the new parcel under a 30‑year term composed of consecutive five‑year renewals with a symbolic $1 rent.

Staff described the parcel location (past the Innovation Center near the dead‑end cul‑de‑sac by the water tower) and said the Hanley Trust also contributes approximately $120,000 annually to the schools for teacher and student initiatives. Board members raised practical questions about site suitability, lighting, turf and long‑term development costs; staff noted that some sites require substantial remediation or engineering to be athletic fields and referenced a Ballpark engineering estimate (cited informally) that might run into the high six figures for major grading or fill work on certain parcels.

A board member asked whether the trust pays property taxes; staff said the Hanley Trust parcels are tax‑exempt. The proposed lease aligns term lengths and standardizes language across several trust parcels; staff said attorneys negotiated term length and that a longer term (50 years) was requested but not agreed to by the trust.

Next steps: staff will circulate the proposed lease language and, if acceptable, present it for formal approval on a future agenda.