The state will sell three pieces of property at Kentucky School for the Deaf but says it has no current plans to do the same with larger, unused portions of the campus.
The Surplus Property Division of the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet started advertising last week for sealed bids on three parcels of surplussed property on South Second Street.
The three parcels are referred to as A, B and D.
Parcel A is .43 of an acre at the corner of South Second and Fackler streets.
Parcel B is .61 of an acre on South Second to the rear of Parcel D, a .95-acre lot with a house. Known as the engineer’s house, the two-story structure sits at the corner of South Second and Jacobs streets.
Prospective bidders could tour the house from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today.
The Department of Finance plans to open the bids at 11 a.m. April 18 in Frankfort.
As enrollment at KSD has fallen over the years, there has been extensive discussion about plans the Kentucky Board of Education, which has authority over the school, has to sell or possibly repurpose portions of the roughly 170-acre campus.
A previous comprehensive plan included reducing the size of the campus by as much as nearly two-thirds, and a local task force came up with recommendations several years ago that included surplussing parts of campus so more of the downtown property could be put to use.
Department of Education spokeswoman Lisa Gross said her agency decides how to dispense property and then makes recommendations to the state board.
Gross said no other property has been surplussed and there are no immediate plans to surplus more lots. She said those decisions are part of a long-term plan for KSD and Kentucky School for the Blind.
Despite recent speculation about the availability of parts of the KSD campus that front on Stanford Road, Gross said no other moves have been signed off on.
“No final decisions have been made on other parts of the campus, including the acreage along Stanford Road,” Gross wrote in an e-mail. “We have been in discussions over the past few years with the city of Danville and the Danville Independent (and) Boyle County school districts, but no final plans have been made.”
Because the property is owned by the state, it has not been subject to local planning and zoning regulations in the past.
P&Z Director Paula Bary said the properties being sold are zoned GR-B, or General Residential-small lot, meaning they could be used for single-family homes or duplexes.
