CANNON BEACH A plan to create a Clatsop-Nehalem cultural center on the former Cannon Beach Elementary School site hit a roadblock Tuesday night when the Seaside School Board rejected an offer by the city to purchase the southern portion of the school site.

The school board agreed unanimously to turn down the offer in a meeting that was reconvened following an executive session where the offer was discussed. The board did not publicly disclose how much money the city offered to pay for the property or whether the board would make a counter offer.

Board Chairman Mark Truax indicated that the offer was too low and that the school board has a fiduciary responsibility to district taxpayers to obtain the highest return on the property.

Im not giving away a $1.2 million property, Truax said.

A recent independent appraisal, paid for jointly by the city of Cannon Beach and the school district, placed the propertys value at $1.2 million. The site is a little less than 1 acre and is south of Ecola Creek in a tsunami zone. It is zoned institutional, which allows parks and cultural centers.

However, the appraisal was based on the highest and best use for the property, which would be multifamily housing.

After the school board closed Cannon Beach Elementary School last June, the property was declared surplus. The northern half of the property returned to the control of Clatsop County; the county owns the property but had allowed the district to operate a school there. The county recently turned the property which is where the playground used to be over to the city.

The school district, however, owns the land covered by the office, classrooms, gym and portable buildings.

Cannon Beach city officials want to demolish the buildings except the gymnasium and develop the school site into a cultural and recreation center, commemorating the Clatsop-Nehalem village that used to be on the site. The city is applying for a grant from the Oregon Department of Parks and Recreation that would go to help purchase the property from the school board. The city would be required to provide matching funds totaling 20 percent of the grant.

The grant application is due to the state by April 4 and must be accompanied by a letter from a willing seller. Cannon Beach City Councilors decided earlier this week to meet in an executive session at 5 p.m. today and to conduct a special public meeting following the executive session. The discussion topic wasnt announced.

A planning group consisting of city staff members, Mayor Mike Morgan, representatives from the Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes, Ecola Watershed Council, North Coast Land Conservancy and the citys parks and community services committee have been meeting for several weeks to determine how the land should be developed. A preliminary design, drawn by a landscape architect consultant, shows a Clatsop-Nehalem cultural and recreational center where the gymnasium is, an indigenous interpretive and activity area, organic garden, amphitheater, gravel path along the creek, canoe landing and grassy area to play games.