Bright purchases 17.7 acres near the high school

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The Bright Local School District closed on a purchase Wednesday of 17.7 acres of land it hopes to use in the future as a site for a track and field and soccer complex.

The property, purchased from Harold and Pat Busch, is located diagonally from Whiteoak High School on Taylorsville Road.

“It’s pretty exciting news for the school district,” Bright Local Superintendent Mike Bick said. “It might be two or three years down the line. We’re not moving on it right away. We’ll have to see what our finances look like in the future.”

Bick said the school district will need to wait and see how much revenue proposed solar farms in the school district provide for Bright Local “to see if it’s feasible to move in that direction.”

He said preliminary studies on the property are already underway.

The property is within walking distance from the high school, Bick said. He said he believes that despite success in track and field in the past, including two state meet qualifiers a year ago, Bright Local is the only school district in the Southern Hills Athletic Conference that does not have a track. He said the area’s youth soccer program is growing and the plan is to turn that into a varsity sport.

Bick said he would rather not say how much the school district paid for the property, instead saying it paid a fair market value.

“We did a little research on our end about properties with the same acreage to see what the fair market value might be, and we paid a fair market value,” Bick said.

Bright Local students deserve a better place to hone their track and field skills and to be able to participate in soccer at the varsity level, the superintendent said.

”The district is very thankful to the Busch family for providing this unique opportunity for the future of the Bright Local School District and the expansion of future sports facilities for our students,” Bick said. “Although there is no timeline set, the goal is to build a track and soccer complex on the land to provide our students with state-of-the-art sports facilities.”

Reach Jeff Gilliland at 937-402-2522.

The Bright Local School District closed on a purchase Wednesday of 17.7 acres located diagonally across from Whiteoak High School on Taylorsville Road. Shown in this picture are (standing, l-r) Bright Local Treasurer Jeff Rowley and Whiteoak Principal Jason Iles; (seated, l-r) superintendent Mike Bick, Chicago Title Company Escrow Agent Glen Shelley, Harold Busch and Pat Busch.
https://www.timesgazette.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2021/09/web1_Whiteoak-pic.jpgThe Bright Local School District closed on a purchase Wednesday of 17.7 acres located diagonally across from Whiteoak High School on Taylorsville Road. Shown in this picture are (standing, l-r) Bright Local Treasurer Jeff Rowley and Whiteoak Principal Jason Iles; (seated, l-r) superintendent Mike Bick, Chicago Title Company Escrow Agent Glen Shelley, Harold Busch and Pat Busch. Submitted photo
Plan is to build ‘state-of-the-art’ track and soccer facilities

By Jeff Gilliland

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