Residents near Boone High School who hoped their neighborhood's history might buy them some time in a fight lost their ground Oct. 7 when a judge ruled the Orange County School District was within its bounds to buy and tear down their houses in order to make way for eventual school expansion.
The potentially historic nature of some structures among the 80 or so due to be toppled never came up `see History in the taking?, Sept. 16`. In fact, no one even spoke before retired Circuit Court Judge Frederick Pfeiffer to oppose the district's action, assuming his backing of the district's plan to be a fait accompli. Property owners representing 68 parcels in the condemned zone already had struck tentative deals to sell to the district pending the judge's ruling; any who refuse the district's offer to pay the appraised value plus 20 percent still may go to court seeking a more favorable payment. New construction -- to include athletic fields and a parking lot for student drivers -- is scheduled to take two to three years after the lots are cleared.
