Arrowhead Land Possibly For Sale and Annexed

Arrowhead High School is planning to sell the 42-acre farmland parcel the school owns. Based on calculations for future enrollment at Arrowhead High School, there is not an educational need for the land. In addition, if the school is annexed to the Village of Hartland the land was appraised to be sold at a higher price.

According to Laura Myrah, Arrowhead Superintendent, the school board has been discussing the possibility of selling the land for four to five years. The idea to annex the school to the Village of Hartland has been discussed for about half a year. Although the school board has not voted to sell it yet.

Funds from the potential sale would go towards helping fix the financial problems for the school district. An example of where the funds could go is to help the special needs programs. Myrah believes the sale will be voted on this winter.

Senior Alyssa Lemay said, “Personally, I believe that it would be a good idea to sell the 42-acre land because it should bring in a good source of money. However, Arrowhead should be applying that money to physical[ly] repair to the school which is more than obviously needed for multiple departments.”

The land was appraised and shows that it could be sold for a higher price if it was located in the Village of Hartland instead of the Town of Merton. If the land would be annexed to the Village of Hartland, then all Arrowhead-owned property would be annexed including the farmland, North and South Campuses. The surrounding houses and businesses would remain in the same location as they currently are.

Possible Annexation of Arrowhead Campus to the Village of Hartland pdf on the Arrowhead website states, “Most Arrowhead campus’ services and utilities already are facilitated by the Village of Hartland including our address & US mail service, water & sewer supply, and fire/emergency services.”

A main change that would happen is Arrowhead’s School Resources Officer (SRO) would be provided by the Hartland Police Department and not the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department.

“If we truly will get more money and use that money to improve the school, then we should annex the land as our address is already in Hartland,” said Lemay.

There is a proposed plan to build a connecting road between Arrowhead Drive and Campus Drive. The road would be named Warhawk Way. This would be built on the land from the Village of Hartland. Arrowhead and Village of Hartland would split the costs of this project. The road would be an additional entrance to the school and minimize traffic.

If the school is unable to successfully be annexed, then just the land will be annexed into the Village of Hartland. “The district is researching with legal counsel a proposal to annex the entire campus into Hartland, as the vast majority of our services already come through that municipality—water, sewer, and fire/emergency services,” Myrah said.

The goal for the land is to sell it for the highest price to help the school budget and do good to taxpayers. The school does not have a buyer and it is possible the land won’t be sold. If this happens it is likely that the school will take it off the market and try to sell it again in the future.