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School-City Building OK’d

October 20, 2005

Thursday, October 20, 2005
By HERB BOOTH / The Dallas Morning News

The Cedar Hill school board has approved a developer’s agreement for a $26 million facility it will share with the city. The Cedar Hill City Council agreed to an identical agreement last week.

By late 2007, the facility will make Cedar Hill unique in that school administration, police, courts and City Hall will all be at one site.

“We’re married, and no divorce is possible,” Cedar Hill Mayor Rob Franke told chamber of commerce members Tuesday concerning the joint-use facility agreement. “The cost of going back is too great.”

The joint-use government facility will total about 119,000 square feet, with nearly 25,000 square feet being shared between the district and the city. The city would pay about $19.9 million, and the school district would pay about $6 million.

Jim Gibson, Cedar Hill schools superintendent, echoed the finality of the agreement.

“This is a developer agreement where the city will be the developer,” Dr. Gibson said. “It’s not totally unlike a developer in the private sector when you have an agreed-upon price for the project.”

Negotiations for a joint-use government facility – which will be on Uptown Boulevard – began about a year ago. Officials with the city and school district said attorneys had to basically create an agreement.

“This agreement opens up a lot of other things we can do together,” Mr. Franke said. “Knowing we can do a project like this together is the key to that happening.”

Mr. Franke said other joint projects might include improving communication between the city and school district police departments, or community events. “We could eventually share even more staff,” he said.

The next major document for the parties to hammer out is the operations agreement.

E-mail hbooth@dallasnews.com.

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