Bend-La Pine Schools is studying its vacant property to plan for future expansion and possibly even identify land to sell.

The district’s most unique property is also one of the city’s most iconic — Pilot Butte.

While the state owns the majority of the nearly 500-foot cinder cone, the school district owns a sizable section of Pilot Butte’s northern slope, extending up from Pilot Butte Middle School at the base to just below the park’s access road. Brad Henry, the district’s chief operations and finance officer, said he has no idea how the land ended up in Bend-La Pine’s portfolio, calling the site a “weird property.”

“If we were to choose to designate this land surplus, I suspect the first move would be to talk with the state about a possible land swap,” Henry said.

Superintendent Ron Wilkinson noted the state owns land throughout the Bend area “that would make much better sense for a school.”

However, the district has not yet formally discussed the matter with the state, and it’s not clear who would be in on the discussions. Pilot Butte is owned by Oregon Parks and Recreation, but most of the land the district would be interested in, Wilkinson said, is owned by other agencies.

Another notable property owned by the district is Troy Field, which is located downtown on NW Bond Street, across from Bend-La Pine’s administrative building. The field, which is currently open to the public, is just under 1 acre.

“If the district were willing to part with that land, I think it could be pretty valuable, considering its location and the scarcity of development land within close proximity to downtown,” said Jay Lyons, a broker with Compass Commercial. “It obviously has quite a bit of visibility being on Bond and would be a very attractive parcel to developers.”

The land contained within similarly sized tax lots downtown is frequently valued at more than $2 million, according to Deschutes County records.

According to Henry, “Any property could conceptually be sold.”

“It is an asset of the school district,” he added. “We’re going through this analysis of all lands, looking to see what could be useful to the school district.”

Some of the other properties are quite small, including a sliver of land across from Ensworth Elementary School near St. Charles Bend and, once the new middle school near Summit High is built, a few acres that form a triangle north of the new school.

Some of the properties, however, are intended to be developed as future schools, Henry noted. Most noteworthy is a roughly 50-acre site adjacent to Bend Golf and Country Club, which Henry said the district “has all along intended for a high school.”

Next to Jewell Elementary is about 25 acres where, Henry said, the district hopes to build a middle school. On NW Shevlin Park Road, a roughly 30-acre site is suitable for an elementary school. While such acreage could typically hold a bigger school, part of the land is steeply sloped, making it unsuitable to build on.

The district may also someday build an elementary school next to High Desert Middle School, which has vacant land on its tax lot.

“We believe there are definitely benefits to a campus-style development,” Henry said. “There are efficiencies in the amount of land you need and maintenance. Busing is also nice, as you can use some of the same driveways and parking.”

— Reporter: 541-633-2160, tleeds@bendbulletin.com