The Orange County School Board voted Tuesday to start the transfer of the former Hungerford School property to Dr. Phillips Charities.
The charitable organization will pay the district over $1 million dollars for the former school site, which is more than 100 acres in total.
Per the agreement, Dr. Phillips and Eatonville will work together on a four-year plan to develop the property into a community garden, Early Learning Center, and community hub.
Although Eatonville residents are split on the land deal, and most of the Eatonville Town Council disapprove of it, the school board voted unanimously to approve the transfer. The mayor is also for it.
Eatonville Mayor Angie Gardner said she’s celebrating what she sees as a better future for the town of Eatonville through this first step, the signing of the memorandum of understanding between OCPS and Dr. Phillips.
“If we truly want what's best for our town, if we truly want to move forward, if we want retail, if we want jobs, if we want our early learning center, if we want those things that we have stated that we have wanted, this is a pretty great opportunity that we should not pass by at this moment,” Gardner said.
Lifelong Eatonville resident John Beacham said he’s worried that these changes to Eatonville will force some residents out or, at the very least, change its historic character. And he said he thinks the mayor will regret this decision.
“When you get that moment, or if you get that moment to get in a rocking chair and retire and look back at life, this will be one of the moments that will bug her the most. It's like I shoulda, coulda would, but now it's too late,” Beacham said.
Beacham has been fighting for the last three years alongside other residents like the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community’s N.Y. Nathiri to get the land returned to the town.
Dr. Phillips and Eatonville will form an advisory council of residents and town council members to work on next steps.
Under the agreement, part of the land from the former school will be donated to the township for a new town center and a town history center. The town will also get to decide whether to turn some of the land into affordable housing.
Watch the full OCPS meeting regarding the land deal:
The agreement comes after a failed development deal in 2023, and a failed lawsuit over the property in 2024.
Orange County Schools and the town of Eatonville have been fighting over the property since 2023.
The Hungerford School was a private and trade school for Black students for decades. The land for the school was donated by the Hungerford family to the town of Eatonville in the 1800s, but by the 1950s it had been deeded to the school district.
The school on the site shut down in 2009, and was later demolished during the COVID pandemic.
The memorandum of understanding spells out the following timeline for development:
- By the end of year 2, Dr. Phillips Charities and the Town of Eatonville will make significant progress on infrastructure, including green space and a pavilion for community festivals.
- By the end of year 3, Dr. Phillips Charities will complete the Eatonville Early Learning Center, with priority of enrollment to residents of the Town of Eatonville and children of teachers and support staff employed at Hungerford Elementary School.
- By the end of year 4, Dr. Phillips Charities will complete a Community Hub/Healthcare facility.
- Land will be set aside for a Town Center and History Center/Museum. The land for those facilities will be donated to the Town of Eatonville when construction funding is secured. In return, our students will be given free admission to the History Center/Museum.
- If the Town of Eatonville, as part of a housing strategy, allows any affordable, deed-restricted single-family housing, preference will be given to instructional and education support employees of the School Board, as well as Town of Eatonville residents and first responders employed by the Town of Eatonville.
Read the full MOU here:
