Allen School Becoming a Blight on Neighborhood, Resident Says

A Hunting Meadows resident told the Strongsville School Board Thursday night that the vacant Allen School has started to look shabby and is becoming a concern for nearby residents.

"The weeds in the flower beds are waist-tall," said George Grozan, who lives on Turkey Meadow Lane.

Grozan said he fears the former elementary school, which closed a year ago to save money for the district, is starting to affect property values in the neighborhood, especially for the 33 abutting homes.

The only maintenance to the grounds, he said, has come from the city, which has there.

"We feel it's being swept under the rug," Grozan said, which isn't sitting well with residents who intentionally bought houses near the school. "Our kids were supposed to go to that school."

He urged school officials to come up with a creative plan for the property that will benefit the neighborhood, and not to "lump it in with a (district-wide) facilities plan" that could take years to implement.

But Business Manager Mark Donnelly said Allen will likely have to be addressed as part of an overall facilities plan because the district's limited resources mean the high-priority issues have to be identified and tackled first.

In the meantime, though, he said "We can work on the appearance of Allen" by sending a groundskeeper to the building every week.

Allen School is now used for storage by the district. Strongsville pays $1 a year to lease and maintain the recreation fields.

While a plan for the building may be a long-range goal, board member Carl Naso said the district must keep the outside looking good.

"We do have an obligation to make sure the building is kept up," Naso said.