DECATUR, Ill. - WAND News continues to work to learn more about the next steps for Decatur Public School's plan to build a new campus using federal covid money.

Wednesday, opponents of the plan again attended the Decatur Park Board meeting, to ask commissioners not to sell part of Lincoln Park to DPS61 for the project.

Right now, the Decatur Park District said they are waiting on a survey of Lincoln Park, and other details from DPS61, to determine whether they will sell the land at all.  

"The timeline is all the school district's issue, not ours. We don't have any additional comment or input on the park district side at this time," Park District Executive Director Clay Gerhard told WAND News Wednesday.

But WAND News has learned DPS61 is now under a tight timeline to get this project done. This week the Illinois State Board of Education denied the DPS61 application to use federal covid funds to build the school. But Tuesday night an ISBE spokeswoman told WAND News, the board will approve a new application from the district, if DPS61 can show the construction of a new school would be completed by the end of September 2024.

Neighbors who live near Lincoln Park said that isn't enough time to work out logistical challenges.

"That park floods. It may not flood now, but it has in the past," one neighbor said during public comment at Wednesday's Park Board meeting.

"Lincoln Park is in the footprint of a national historic district. What happens when you want to use federal funds- CARES Act funds- to build in a national historic district," Lee Ann Clary added.

The president of the Park Board of Commissioners said he's still weighing all options, and listening to the concerns of neighbors before making a decision. 

WAND News will continue following the latest in this developing story.

Copyright 2022. WANDTV. All Rights Reserved.