Amid public concerns about the sale of the former Churchill Junior High in Galesburg, the city council will consider an offer for the building from a local business owner.
Extreme Car Wash Holdings LLC offered $100,000 for the school building that was donated to the city last year after the school district vacated it.
The LLC is registered to Robert R. Benedict of Knoxville, per Illinois Secretary of State records.
Benedict is also the president of Mechanical Service Inc., a local mechanical contractor.
The city council on Monday will hold the first reading of an ordinance authorizing the sale. It would require two-thirds of the council voting in favor to be approved.
Local residents and neighbors of the Churchill property at 905 Maple Ave. have been speaking out for weeks, asking the council not to rush the sale and to keep the large amount of greenspace on the lot community-owned.
An online petition asking to delay the sale now has more than 300 signatures, and discussions about the potential sale dominated this week's council work session, where there was no mention by city staff or council members of any pending offer.
Per the agenda for Monday’s meeting, the city would retain the greenspace for public use.
The potential buyer plans to lease the school building to a church while their new facility is under construction.
There are no future plans outlined for the Churchill property, but any uses outside the current zoning would require approval from both the city council and the planning and zoning commission.
Though the previous council selected Churchill as the site of a proposed community center, the current council approved an ordinance authorizing its sale.
The council previously held a bidding process for the entire Churchill or property and received one bid of $100, which was rejected by the council.
The bidding process is one way the city is authorized to sell property. The other is through an ordinance with a two-thirds vote in favor required.
Per state statutes regarding the sale of school buildings, the school district has right of first refusal on the potential sale and would have 30 days to execute that right before a purchase agreement would be executed.
Benedict also bid on the former Nielsen Elementary School after the school district vacated that building.
But his bid of $1 was rejected and Nielsen was sold to the Galesburg Rescue Mission last year.
Also on the agenda for Monday is a request to have the Churchill property formally appraised. The nearly 90,000 square foot building sits on a 13-acre lot.
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