School District land eyed for nature center

A nearly 30-acre piece of Cedar Grove-Belgium School District property north of the high school may be turned into a nature center.

The School Board last month approved terminating a lease with a local farmer who grew crops on the land in order to examine what the district could do with the property.

Director of Buildings and Grounds Ben Lukens presented the board with an option for the land and asked for direction on how to proceed.

“I think there’s always been a little bit of a vision to do something with it. Now that we’re behind the referendum and we know we’re not expanding out that direction anymore, it maybe seems like an opportunity to take that back and develop it,” he said.

Last year, a 12-foot wide running path was installed around the 28.95-acre lot. It gets a little wet in some spots, but the cross country meet the school hosted in fall went well.

“They obviously love the course,” Lukens said of cross country coach Brandon Langer, his assistant and the team.

“We got lucky with the cross country meet this year. It was dry.”

Supt. Chad Brakke said the land has possibilities.

“Sure, it’s going to be a cross country trail but it could be a walking path for the community. We could have nature learning centers out there for the science classes,” Brakke said. “There could be a lot of opportunities. It would be a nice little development.”

Longtime high school science teacher Hubert Nett had a nature center that was eliminated when the new high school was built, board member Kurt Kraus said.

Lukens said Nett, who has been retired for years and lives near the school, coincidentally recently asked about a nature center in the district.

“I think he’s interested in maybe helping,” Lukens said.

Board member Eric Meinnert said he supports helping the cross country program, as does Kraus.

“It would be nice to make a nice home course for cross country. It’s been a terrific program here to have two teams going to state again this year,” Kraus said.

Meinnert, a teacher at Ozaukee High School, said his school recently developed a similar science program by turning farmland into a prairie and suggested contacting the school for advice.

He said he also heard of a school forests program that has grant money associated with it.

Other area districts have established outdoor education centers as well, including Plymouth. Business Manager Tera Rogers said Random Lake has a strong program run by its high school science teacher.

“They’re doing a lot in getting kids outside,” she said.

The district may have to address a water issue the land causes for houses that line the land, board member Jeremy Spriggs said.

“I will tell you that drainage does get significant in the spring time with the rain and the melting snow,” he said, adding basements flood and streams run through yards.

Kraus suggested contacting the Sheboygan County Highway Department for help alleviating the water issue.

“I think we should try and get it fixed. Otherwise the water is just going to keep expanding,” he said.

The district receives $1,800 a year from Matt Teunissen to plant crops on the land, and Lukens said Teunissen is in the process of procuring seeds and planning for next year.

Lukens sought direction on what to tell Teunissen.

The board decided to authorize Lukens to continue to investigate the development of the property and terminate the lease with Teunissen effective at the end of the year.  The motion unanimously passed, 6-0.