Brooklyn Park Explores Sale of Fair Oaks Park to School
The city of Brooklyn Park is exploring the possibility of selling park land to a school.
Fair Oaks Park is located at the southeast corner of Zane Avenue and Interstate 694. It’s situated just north of Excell Academy, a K-through-8 charter school that serves about 500 students. The school is looking to purchase at least a sliver of the park land from the city so it can expand its building and also construct a playground.
According to the city, the park is currently designated for the sport of cricket. During a work session Monday night, council members remarked about how the park currently doesn’t get much use. Mayor Jeff Lunde expressed concern about selling the property and having it later get resold again.
“I’m really worried about selling it, then losing it, because right across there is some apartments and some things we want to do with people who need park services, and suddenly we don’t have that ability there,” said Lunde.
But some city officials believe negotiating a reasonable purchase price with the school for at least some of the land would make the best use of the property.
“It’s an open field with no one using it,” said Brooklyn Park City Council member Susan Pha. “It’s an investment in our children.”
According to Jody Yungers, Brooklyn Park‘s recreation and parks director, the city says it doesn’t take the sale of park land lightly. If such a sale were to go through, the proceeds would be used to help with other park facilities in the system.
