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The old Weaver Popcorn Company building in Ulysses has been used by USD 214 for storage since the district purchased the building in June 2010. But the building is so large and there’s more space than the district needs, the district is looking to downsize into a new facility.
The Board of Trustees met in a 30-minute special session Sept. 24 to discuss a potential tradeoff for the old popcorn factory in order to construct a new storage facility for the district. Two sites were considered for the storage facility, but a vacant lot directly east of the Ulysses High school tennis courts was ultimately chosen.
“There’s a lot of stuff (in the old popcorn factory) that we just need to get rid of,” said Superintendent Corey Burton. “There’s a lot of old old stuff that we’re never gonna use and there’s a lot of just plain junk.”
Dr. Bradyn Bishop as well as builder Craig Malone met with the board Sept. 24 to hash out the size and type of building Bishop will have built for the district as a tradeoff. Bishop did not say at the meeting what he plans to do once he takes possession of the old popcorn factory.
“Bradyn and I have been visiting back and forth about the possibility of looking at exchanging buildings to exchange the popcorn factory for a new building for a storage facility for us,” Burton said. “Our next step, if we kind of feel like the board is on board with our plan would be to get the lawyers involved actually to write the contract.”
The district had been considering two sites for a new storage facility - the vacant lot east of the UHS tennis courts at West Lotus and McCall, and north of Hickock Elementary School at Maize and North Missouri. Burton said he likes the Hickock location because of its proximity to the bus barn but it would create other issues and not be pleasant to look at for the neighborhood on the north side of Maize Street.
The new building would be 60x195 feet with 20-foot sidewalls with a 212 pitched roof. The building would orient north-south on the southeast corner of the lot and include a portable dock on the east side of the building so a truck could access it from the adjacent north-south alley.
Burton said the homes on North Durham street whose yards back up to that alley all have privacy fencing. Trucks would enter the alley off San Jacinto Street and move north to access the dock, and exit onto Lotus Avenue to the north.
The building would include a 20-foot by 30-foot “dry area” with 10-foot sidewalls that is insulated to protect items the district wants to keep clean like paint and chemicals. That part could be insulated enough to keep things from freezing.
The roof of the entire building would be insulated to stop condensation.
“If you have a totally uninsulated building, your ceiling will gain condensation at some point and drip,” Malone said. “But minimal insulation - three inches is what I was proposing - just something there to stop condensation.”
Burton and Bishop have both spoken to the city, who said they don’y foresee any problems. Malone said the building could be done in 3-4 months and “It needs to get moving sooner than later because it’s laying on the ground and so it would be advantageous to get it moving as soon as possible,” Malone said.
“Basically the understanding would be that there would be a fully-functional building that would replace the popcorn factory so you would have a place to move things over to,” Bishop said.
Trustee Kasey Krueger said he wanted to make sure the business side of the proposal didn’t “go south.”
“I just want to make sure I’m clear, it’s a one-to-one trade and any additional stuff like insulation could be negotiated or whatever else,” Krueger added. “Is that the understanding?”
Bishop responded in the affirmative.
The district and Dr. Bishop agreed to move forward with the project and allow the attorneys to hash out the contract.
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