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TIM CURRAN
THE MID-COUNTY MEMO
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| This piece of property, just over one third of an acre adjacent to Parkrose Middle School, was purchased by the school district from the Rossi family for $240,000 last month. Mid-county Memo photos/Tim Curran |
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| In June 2011, the late Aldo Rossi's immediate family members, from left, Irene, Nick, Angela and Joe, meet Parkrose School District Superintendent Karen Fischer Gray, right, at the plaque reserving longtime athletic booster Rossi's grandstand seat forever. |
In an email, Superintendent Karen Fischer Gray said the third-acre, adjacent to Parkrose Middle School, sold for $240,000.
Negotiations - begun in early 2012 after passage of a bond measure to, among other things, build a new middle school - broke down in spring, engendering a vote to initiate condemnation proceedings by the Parkrose board of education, upsetting many Parkrose patrons.
As reported in “School district condemns Rossi property” (August 2012 edition), the district said it needs the land to facilitate efficient movement of construction vehicles on and off the property as the new middle school is constructed.
After the board vote, an online petition created by Tara Holman asked school board members, “… to resign their decision to condemn the quarter acre of property and to find an alternative design for the new middle school. In addition, we ask the Multnomah County to not grant the condmnation [sic] of Rossi land, should the school board choose not to stop the condemnation process.” The petition closed with 613 people signing on.
The community's reaction to the vote was a factor in decisions by Jamie Woods and Alesia Reese, Parkrose school board members since 2005, to forgo a re-election run to the five-member board next year, according to Woods; leaving one incumbent, Ed Grassel, running for re-election in the May 2013 primary.
In an email, Fischer Gray said, “The Parkrose School District is pleased to conclude real estate negotiations with the Rossi family. A one-third acre piece of property was sold to the district for $240,000. This important 15,537 square foot property squares off the land and provides for the city required storm water drainage for our new, $43 million dollar, taxpayer approved, state of the art, twenty first century middle school to open fall 2014. Please stay tuned for news on the official ground breaking ceremony this spring.”
Nick Rossi, who negotiated the agreement on behalf of his family, said in an email, “We do have an agreement, but it has not closed yet. The property still needs to go through the division process before the school can actually close on it. In the meantime, we are allowing the school to use the property before they actually own it, but, being in the [real estate] business, closed means title has been transferred.”
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