A recent land quality study revealed immediate but manageable issues for the 281-acre former golf course chosen as the site for a future New Philadelphia school campus. (Tusco TV)

NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) - New Philadelphia school officials are eager to make use of the latest update on the land quality study at the site of their prospective new schools. 

The board met for a community work session Tuesday night to hear from GDP Group consultants who have been conducting feasibility studies on the Oak Shadows golf course that the board recently moved to purchase. The report concluded the 281-acre site could handle the needs of the schools masterplan, which would see two new district-encompassing facilities built there if approved by voters. Superintendent David Brand says he wants to focus on some notes in the report that identify some weak points.

“We have some more homework to do, and we want to be transparent through this whole process. We want to engage the community so none of this is being rushed but now we have some next steps to work with to answer some of those questions that we got today. It’s exciting to see a good turnout. It’s exciting to see people involved,” he says.

Consultant Rodwell King says there are some immediate but manageable issues that will need to be addressed.

“As is evident in the public meeting, there’s concerns, particularly from the neighbors, about the flooding but I believe that can be taken care of through good engineering practice, and the second would be if we encounter any soft soils, which I indicated that we have discovered some, but that again through prudent engineering we can overcome any of those issues,” he says.

Looking ahead, Brand says he wants to work with the community to design a rough layout of the area so voters can have a better idea of what the board plans to do with the money riding on a March ballot issue.

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