Wilmot sells rest of school forest

Land is located in Racine County

By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer

After the Wilmot Union High School Board rejected two bids, they finally found a buyer for the last 80 acres of its school forest in the Town of Burlington, just west of the Richard Bong State Recreation Area.

The property on English Settlement Road in Racine County, which is valued at $799,000, but was sold for $668,000, received approval on a 6-1 vote following Monday’s closed session.

Board Treasurer Sam Barranco voted against the sale.

Voting in support were Board President Wayne Trongeau, Vice President Deborah Rudolph, Clerk Barbara Wetherbee along with members Steve Turner, Barbara Tietz and Sue Gerber.

With the sale to Mark and Ryszarda Edens, it closes the book on land donated to the school by the government in the early 1960s, when it was 160 acres.

The board sold the first 80 acres last September for $500,000.

Selling the 160 total acres made sense, according to Wilmot District Administrator Dan Kopp, who noted problems with the location.

“We don’t use it,” Kopp said. “We have 50 acres west of our soccer/football field that we own which we have better access to. This 50 acres is actually the northern 50 acres of the 90-acre parcel our softball/baseball diamonds are on.”

Kopp added the two parcels connect on the southwest corner of the parcel the school is located at.

Funds received from both sales are slated for the school’s capital improvement fund, estimated at $1.2 million by the end of the fiscal year, not taking Monday’s sale into consideration.

The capital improvement fund, according to Kopp, gives the school an opportunity to address a five-year maintenance plan.

“This money will allow us to accomplish the tasks on our five-year maintenance plan,” said Kopp, referring to roof repairs, parking lot resurfacing, among other facility needs.

“Our Board of Education has done an excellent job of allocating the requisite funds for maintenance of this beautiful building and is committed to doing so in the future.”

Originally, Wilmot and two other area school districts received parcels of land west of the Bong Recreation Area as a donation from the state.

A wider donation
In 1952, the federal government announced the need for an air force base in northeastern Illinois and southeastern Wisconsin, nonprofit Bong Naturalist Association reports on its website.

Two years later, federal government found a 5,540-acre plot of land in the Town of Brighton in Kenosha County and Town of Burlington in Racine County.

Following Congressional approval of $16.5 million, the government bought land from nearly 60 farm families, with plans to build an airbase to hold 5,000 service members and a 12,500-foot runway.

However, following brief infrastructure construction of the base and runway, named after airman Richard Bong, the Defense Department faced a budget shortfall that forced them to abandon the project.

By the 1960s, the federal government relinquished the property to the state, which in turn, donated 464 acres to area school districts, including Wilmot Union High School, Burlington Area School District and Westosha Central High School.

Kopp said BASD is the sole district still using its donated portion.

“Burlington, its in their district, they use it, to my understanding,” Kopp said. “Central sold their plot years ago.”

BASD Superintendent Peter Smet said his district uses its forest for educational opportunities and recreational activities.

“We use our parcel for outdoor education, science education, and agriculture education,” said Smet. “We also use it for outdoor activities like hiking and cross country skiing.”

In addition to school forests, 360 acres went to construction of Brighton Dale Links, with the rest going towards the current Bong State Recreation Area, the Naturalist Association states.

Since then, Bong State Recreation Area has underwent multiple changes, including the addition of a recreation facility in the early portion of the 1980s.

Following this addition, Bong State Recreation expanded to include campsites.


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One response to “Wilmot sells rest of school forest”

  1. sue Avatar
    sue

    are these “plots” under Residential zoning ? or are these zones under a no construction plot?