The owner of the former James Ward Elementary School told the Jennings City Council on Tuesday that she is willing to work with the community to do what needs to be done to the property.

Property owner Janine A. Coleman, of the Janine A. Coleman Community Development, Inc, was asked to appear at Tuesday’s council meeting to show cause why the structure, located at 1303 W.D. Rochelle Avenue, should not be condemned. Coleman has owned the property since 2021.

While the building has been deemed unsafe and in need of condemnation by the city, Coleman said a contractor inspected the property and declared the building as sound and said it does not need to be torn down.

The contractor did recommend boarding up the structure. Coleman said the doors and windows have been boarded up, all the entrances have also been secured and locked and a landscape contractor is working to see that the grass is cut. She has also gotten bids to clean up the property, including trimming the trees and grass around the building.

“I’m going to do everything right now that I can possibly do to secure that property to make sure the property does not harm anyone in the community,” she said. “I have posted the building so no one should be trespassing on that property.”

She is also working on a feasibility study for the property which has been declared unsafe and in need of condemnation by the city.

“The building was built in 1936, so it’s about 87 years old,” Coleman said. “I don’t want to take it upon myself to make a decision and I don’t think you (council) should either saying that that building needs to be destroyed or torn down.”

Coleman said she has ideas for the property and is working with a team to make those decisions and seek grants for the project, but said she wants input from the community on what they would like to see be done with the property.

“I can’t see just tearing down something that has been there since 1936,” she said, noting a lot of people have ties to the school which served as the city’s first black school.

“I would like to have input, even from the city council, on what the needs of the city are,” she continued. “I think there are a lot of memories with that building. Tearing it down is going to erase a lot of history and memories.”

Coleman said she is willing to work to restore the building if that is what the community wants.

She said there is also a lot of land tied to the school that could be developed if the community wants it torn down.

“My vision is low income housing,” she said. “I see housing in that area where people are living in houses that are substandard. I think that the property can be developed and bring in housing and the school can be a backup for the community or the tenants as far as tutoring, feeding and the grounds could be made into a community garden.”

Concerned resident Chris Lehman said some of the frustration with the community is that condemnation was discussed 10 years ago and nothing has been done.

“The people surrounding that school are frustrated, they’re tired,” Lehman said. “They want to see something come that they can live with in peace and be happy with or they want it to remove so that the city or a private owner has an opportunity to build something to make it nice.”

Mayor Henry Guinn said it is not in the best interest of the city to elaborate on a game plan which is the responsibility of the owner.

“I think it is up to you as the owner and the developer of the property to have a game plan and to coach us, then allow us to help you once there is a game plan,” Guinn said. “To say there is not a game plan, I don’t know where we would go with that.”

He said the city has had concerns about the property since the school closed in 2005, one before Coleman became the owner.

“I think the concern today is the safety and security of the general public,” Guinn said. “The kids that mosey in and out of the building or the vagrants that go in and out of the building.”

He said the first step of action would be to secure the building.

The city council voted in April to give Coleman until January 2024 to clean up and repair the property or face demolition by the city. However, Coleman contends that she never received any written notification of the city’s action or a timeline.

She said she received a letter from the city to appear at its April meeting, but notified City Attorney Derek Bisgi that she was unable to attend.