School board plans to shop Asa Wood site around

Administrators with the Libby Public School District hope to put the defunct Asa Wood Elementary School on the market in May.

During an April 12 school board meeting, Superintendent Ron Goodman said the district was coordinating with a real estate company to put the former elementary school in front of interested buyers. The move marks a departure from the district’s previous attempts to sell the property.

In the fall of 2019, school administrators and Libby City Council began considering the building’s future after officials with American Covenant Senior Housing Foundation expressed interest in redeveloping the property. Since then, the district worked to iron out a deal with the foundation with limited success.

American Covenant officials initially proposed constructing an assisted-living facility within the former school building. In July, Gerald Fritts, CEO of American Covenant, said the foundation hoped to remodel the structure to house 45 units and create 22 local jobs. By the end of the year, American Covenant’s plan had changed to demolishing the elementary school building and replacing it with a new structure.

During a January meeting, Libby Public School Board members expressed concern about the foundation’s proposal to purchase the lot outright for $547,000. The deal required the district to cover the costs associated with cleaning the site after the demolition of the building up to $530,000. Goodman said that would have left the district with next to no return on the sale.

Last year, an inspection of the former elementary school property found 13 building materials that tested positive for asbestos and another six that were assumed to contain asbestos. At least four thermometers in the building contained mercury and paint used on both the inside and outside of the structure was lead-based.

While American Covenant officials later raised the amount they were willing to put down for the lot, board members were irritated when the foundation offered an earnest payment of only $100.

To help cleanup Asa Wood, school administrators are hoping to receive a grant from the EPA’s Brownfields Program. Were the EPA to green light the project, Goodman said officials would have the former elementary school cleaned by October 2022. The program would require Libby Public Schools to contribute $100,000 towards cleaning the building and an underground storage tank on the property.

Goodman expects to hear back from EPA about the grant in May.