SASD approves Field of Dreams sale

The Sheboygan Area School District Board of Education voted unanimously Tuesday night to sell the Field of Dreams property on Sheboygan's north side to Aurora Health Care for $2.5 million so that the medical organization can build an $86.4 million outpatient surgery facility and office building on the land.

As part of the deal, Aurora also intends to donate $5 million to replace the Field of Dreams athletic fields with about half of those funds will going toward building a new sports complex on the south side off of South Business Drive, just south of Indian Meadows Mobile Home Park. The rest of the money will go toward constructing fields across the street from Field of Dreams and upgrading the baseball field at either Roosevelt Park or Horace Mann Middle School.

School Board President David Gallianetti said he listened to a tremendous number of constituents over the last couple weeks – the most comments he's received in the 13 years that he's been on the board, he said.

"Some are adamantly opposed and they'll always be. Some want more time," Gallianetti said. "But then I've got another group that's saying, 'I don't know why you're wasting so much time. Approve it.'

"I think we can all agree that we're trying to do what's best for the children but we're not in sync with what that is," he continued. "Regardless of the vote, we're going to have people walking away not pleased with the decision."

Approximately 100 people flooded the North High School Commons for the meeting. Nearly 30 of them spoke – some of them twice – during the public input portion of the meeting, before the School Board voted, with about half imploring board members not to approve the sale and the rest speaking of the boon the sale would be to the community.

Those opposed to the sale argued that replacing Field of Dreams with a medical facility would destroy the aesthetics of the neighborhood as well as a community-built piece of Sheboygan history, while increasing traffic and noise in the area. Some also criticized the poor communication of officials involved in the plan and questioned whether it would ultimately benefit the whole community.

Those in favor argued that the new facility will improve health care in the city by adding an extra, more accessible facility while not only replacing, but upgrading and adding to the city's recreational facilities for youth.

"We need this in the community, not only to expand the opportunities in the city, but to bring new jobs to the city," said Corry Scherg, an Aurora employee and mother of three boys involved in youth sports. "I don't feel that the city would ever be able to come up with the money to make those things happen and we have an organization that's willing to make that happen. I think it'd be in the best interest of the city and the children and just everyone involved."

Board members were scheduled to approve the sale two weeks ago — the day after Aurora, SASD and city officials publicly unveiled the plan — but delayed the vote after being greeted with angry opposition from neighbors and others.

Aurora officials said they've been looking for an opportunity to expand in the city for about five years because their current facilities — Aurora Sheboygan Memorial Medical Center and Aurora Sheboygan Clinic — have been operating at capacity for years.

Pending city approval, the facility is scheduled to be completed mid-2018.

Superintendent Joe Sheehan said district officials did not recommend selling the property to address the budget deficit the school district is facing for the 2015-16 school year.

Instead, the district considered four criteria when deciding to sell -- would the buyer add value to the community, pay fair market value, maintain the original naming rights and donor names, and replace all Field of Dreams fields.

Sheehan said Aurora met – and exceeded in some instances – all those criteria.

Director of Community Recreation John Koehler said he and a committee of sports group representatives are "ready to embrace the proposal" and will continue to work with representatives from youth baseball, football and soccer to come to a solution that best meets the needs of those groups.

Two advisory committees – one made up predominantly of neighbors of Field of Dreams and the other comprised partially of community members throughout the city – will be formed to give input on the Aurora building plans and developing the south-side sports complex. Anyone interested in serving on the committees should contact Sheehan at 920-459-3514 or jsheehan@sasd.net, or Koehler at jkoehler@sasd.net or 459-3777.