A year after Lehighton Area School District opened its new K-5 building, it appears there is a buyer for the district’s last unused elementary school property.

Lehighton’s school board voted Monday night to hold a public auction Sept. 30 for the sale of Franklin Elementary School. Bethany Wesleyan Church has submitted a $400,000 pre-bid, which will be the base amount at the auction, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at the district administration building.

The motion passed by a 5-2 vote with directors David Bradley and Gail Maholick voting no. Joy Beers abstained, while Richard Beltz was absent. Voting yes were Larry Stern, Wayne Wentz, Stephen Holland, Andrew Yenser and Rita Spinelli.

Bradley opposed the motion after asking whether anyone on the board or administration had “calculated the loss of financial opportunity that would come with auctioning the school for $400,000.”

Instead, Bradley suggested a triple net lease, where the tenant pays all the expenses of the property including real estate taxes, building insurance and maintenance.

“Instead, the board is rubber stamping the administration’s decision without any data,” Bradley said.

Bethany Wesleyan Church began renting space in Lehighton Area Middle School in 2018 for Sunday services. At the time, district officials called it a “win-win” and estimated it would bring in over $30,000 per year in income.

Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said by leasing the Franklin building to the church, or any tenant with an at-will lease, it leaves the door open for that party to end the lease at any time and put the district right back at square one.

“It wouldn’t be what I would consider good financial management on our part,” Cleaver said.

In voting yes, board President Larry Stern said he was taking into consideration the market for the school.

“This is the first interest we’ve had in it in 24 months,” Stern said.

In February, the district approved a subdivision of the Franklin property, which splits the property into two parcels. One parcel, totaling 13.6 acres includes the school as well as the soccer field and track above it. The other parcel, 11.8 acres, went to Franklin Township and includes four baseball and softball fields used by the Franklin Township Athletic Association.

Before the subdivision, commercial real estate appraiser Frank Gownley appraised the property at $759,000.

“Appraisals are out there, but the bids show what people are actually willing to pay for the property,” Stern said.

Franklin will become the fourth former elementary school to be sold by the district, joining Shull-David, Mahoning and East Penn.

Joseph Bennett, using the name Lehighton School Site LLC, posted the successful bid of $402,500 for Shull-David Elementary school during a public auction last month.

He outbid Behavioral Health Associates, which submitted a pre-bid of $400,000, but did not attempt to go higher. Bennett has yet to publicly say what he intends to do with the property.

In November 2017, Lehighton sold East Penn and Mahoning elementary schools for $350,000 each, also at public auction. BHA was the successful bidder for Mahoning, where it now runs the Mahoning Valley Academy for grades 7 through 12. Duane and Lavona Schleicher bid $350,000 on East Penn Elementary.

“We’re planning an adult living complex, a retirement type of home,” Duane Schleicher said following the auction in 2017.

It could be a quick turnaround from the auction to the board approving the sale.

The board on Monday approved changing the date of September’s meeting to 7 p.m. Sept. 30.

“This gives us the opportunity to execute the auction and liquidate this asset on the same day,” Stern said.