Hudson school board votes to buy dog track facility

• Dog track looking south

Once "St. Croix Meadows" ... now just a contemporary-looking commercial building, difficult to adapt to any other uses. Grass grows tall from the feeder roads and parking lot surrounding the former greyhound-racing track. Steve Dzubay photo.
• Dog track building

The track bouilding is reportedly is good condition, but it is unlikely that much of the structure could be salvaged for a school.
• Google satellite image of the St. Croix Meadows property

This satellite image of the St. Croix Meadows property shows the parking lot, the building that housed the grandstand and betting area, the running track and the kennels in the lower right corner. The property is 126 acres. Photo copyright Google 2011

Talk about it

The Hudson Board of Education voted unanimously to buy the former St. Croix Meadows dogtrack for $8.25 million at a special board meeting Monday night.

The vote is only the first step in the process of purchasing the land. The purchase has to be approved by voter referendum to go forward. Superintendent Mary Bowen-Eggebraaten said the board will decide whether to put the question before voters at either the February 2012 primary election or in the April 2012 general election by their November 8 board meeting.

Financial Services Director Tim Erickson said that the purchase of the 126 acres would increase school taxes for district residents between $10-20 on a $200,000 home. He said the asking price for the property was around $20 million. He added that the assessed value of $5 million is for tax purposes only and had not been updated in several years.

The superintendent stressed that no decision had yet been made on what kind of school to put on the property or what would be done with existing facilities to address secondary space needs. She began the special meeting with a run- down of enrollment districtwide that showed the middle school over capacity by 169 students, the high school just below the building’s capacity and all but two grade levels at 400 or more students.

In a statement released after the meeting Monday night the board said, “Purchasing St. Croix Meadows Dog Track when land prices and interest rates are low and transforming it into a future school that serves Hudson students is a win-win for students and the community.”

More details about the action will appear in this Thursday’s edition of the Star-Observer.

Tags: area news, news, education, hudson, wisconsin