Cortland hopes to buy school playground

STAFF REPORT

CORTLAND — There’s a chance that the playground next to the former Cortland Elementary School won’t be lost to the community when the school goes up for sale Nov. 14.

The school district plans to put the building on Park Avenue on the auction block, but before that happens, the city of Cortland would like to write a letter to the Lake- view Board of Education expressing interest in purchasing the 5.5-acre playground to use as a city park.

City council will consider a resolution Monday giving Mayor Curt Moll permission to write the letter.

If successful in purchasing the land, the city instead of the school district would then maintain the park, but it would be used for similar purposes as in the past, Moll said.

The park is used by the Lake- view Optimist Soccer Association and other organizations for soccer games and has a playground and baseball field.

Moll said he doesn’t know how much the land would cost.