County Judge Bill McElhaney said the county purchased 48.895 acres near the intersection of U.S. 380 and Farm Road 1655 from Robert and Martha Beaman for $1,410,796. The county paid an average of $28,853.58 per acre and will be reimbursed for the cost with the sale of bonds.
The acreage is directly behind Ascension and St. Mark Episcopal Church and D.K. Properties on U.S. 380 between Bridgeport and Decatur. Although the college site does not front U.S. 380 or FM 1655, there will be entrances from both highways.
The county bought two strips of land for 80-foot wide roads that stretch from the respective highways to the 44-acre college site - a 2.905-acre strip from FM 1655 and a 1.966-acre strip from U.S. 380.
McElhaney said the campus will join the West Wise Water District, and it will tie into the city of Bridgeport's sewer line.
The county was working last week to finalize the memorandum of understanding and lease agreement with Weatherford College.
Asset manager Diana Alexander already has a lengthy list of architects and engineers who want to work on the project, and the county has not even advertised it yet. Although commissioners approved seeking RFQs (requests for qualifications) from the interested parties at a September meeting, the judge has temporarily halted the RFQ process to do more research.
In the meantime, the county is working to wrap up the details necessary to begin selling bonds. McElhaney believes that process will be complete in mid-February, and bonds will be sold beginning in March.
After all the bonds are sold, construction can begin, and McElhaney said he expects it to be about a 16-month project.
"More than likely, it will be January 2012 (when the college is finished)," McElhaney said.
A long road
Before choosing potential property, the site committee, which included Precinct 2 commissioner Kevin Burns, Bridgeport EDC director William Myers, Decatur city manager Brett Shannon and McElhaney, outlined the following needs: safe entrances on and off campus; accessibility to major state highways and area roads; economic availability to water; economic availability to handle and process wastewater; ability to expand with future student population growth; maximize return on the investment of citizens' tax dollars; maximization of the full amount of acreage purchased and minimize state and federal regulatory oversight.
They also agreed it should not be located within the city limits of Decatur or Bridgeport, and that while the project needed a minimum of 24 acres, 50 acres would better accommodate the growth expected in the next 30 years.
Keeping these factors in mind, three primary sites were selected - the Beamans' property and two, 30-acre tracts just west of Decatur on the south side of U.S. 380. The two, 30-acre tracts are owned by different families, and none of the property was for sale at the time, including the Beamans'.
The two 30-acre tracts were ruled out immediately because one family did not want to sell, under any circumstances, and while the second family was willing to negotiate, the committee decided their 30-acre tract, alone, was not appropriate for the project.
Almost 40 percent of the land would have required extensive site work, and some of it still would have been unusable.
Plus, due to the location, the cost to build a water line and connect with a sewer system was going to be significantly more expensive than at the Beamans'.
In May 2008, the committee began discussions with the Beamans, and they finalized an option to purchase agreement on Nov. 4, 2008, the day taxpayers approved the branch campus maintenance tax.
McElhaney said various tests were conducted on the property including an environmental impact study and soil testing, and the property was surveyed. McElhaney hand-delivered the intent to purchase notice on May 4, 2009, and expected to close on the property within two weeks.
Closing was repeatedly delayed due to ongoing discussions with oil and gas companies, but after months of negotiations, surface waivers were secured.
McElhaney said there are also restrictions in the deed as to what types of businesses can be located on the property that sits between the college property and U.S. 380 and FM 1655.
Weatherford College Wise County will be built just east of the Beamans' old homestead, the property where Robert grew up. McElhaney said the property has been in the family for 100 years, and the Beamans were willing to sell the land since it would be used for a school.
