Fort Smith Public Schools’ 80-acres of reserved land at Chaffee Crossing will be returned to the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority.

The School Board voted Monday 6-0 to release the land back to FCRA. It was reserved for the district in 2010 as the potential site for a secondary school site, and it was to be held until 2020.

FCRA requested formal notification as to whether the district intends to develop the site, so it can “facilitate continued development of the Chaffee area,” according to the item abstract.

Deputy Superintendent Terry Morawski announced at the most recent Board of Education meeting the district had been approached by the estate of William L. Hutcheson Jr., a former local business owner, with a property featuring a 182,000-square-foot building and additional space for expansion.

The board unanimously approved the land for the district’s planned career and technology center. With the donation, the district will save approximately $3 million that was budgeted in the Vision 2023 capital improvement plan to secure a site.

“In terms of its value, this contribution is an investment in the CTC that far exceeds the $3 million budgeted for site acquisition as part of the Vision 2023 capital improvement plan,” Fort Smith Superintendent Doug Brubaker said. Estimates put the value of the land at $4.5 million, he said.

Brubaker previously told the Times Record it was still considering what to do with the Chaffee land, but now that the district has secured a location for the career/tech center, it no longer has a use for the land, according to an official resolution for the land’s release.

“At this point, it is not planned to build a secondary school on this parcel of land within the next year,” Brubaker said.

The resolution says the district will release the Chaffee property back to FCRA for “future, alternative, non-competitive use and disposition.” It gives Brubaker the authority to take any action that may be necessary or appropriate to fulfill the resolution requirements.

Now that the board has voted to release the land, it will be gone from the district’s potential use. Morawski noted there is approximately 16 acres that the district could use at the location of the career/tech center for any growth the district may see, but Brubaker said that is not a concern in the future, especially not before the hold is up at the end of the year.

The board also approved at its previous meeting a resolution allowing for the donation of a 0.69-acre piece of the land as part of a Arkansas 255/Zero Street widening project.

According to FCRA, the Arkansas Department of Transportation didn’t want to install a stop light at the street’s intersection with Wells Lake Road. Instead, ArDOT will slightly relocate Wells Lake Road, which would create a small triangle of land.

FCRA requested the district to donate this triangle, so it could offer the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education first right of refusal, which currently surrounds both sides of Wells Lake Road.

With the land release, the district will be giving all of its reserved land back to FCRA.

The board also voted 6-0 to approve the property closing on the donated property, allowing Brubaker to take the actions necessary or appropriate to officially accept the donation, which, according to the resolution, “at no cost to taxpayers, can be repurposed for the benefit of the district’s students and patrons.”