Developmental Services Inc. is facing a conundrum involving its workshop for adults with disabilities located in Freeman Field Industrial Park in Seymour.
Currently, DSI owns the building at 1820 First Ave., but Seymour Community School Corp. owns the property on which it sits.
To clean up the situation, DSI has approached the school board and suggested it donate the small piece of property to the organization, which works to provide opportunities and resources for individuals in the community with developmental disabilities.
Some school board members voiced their hesitations with the idea during a meeting last week, saying they don’t feel comfortable making such a decision without knowing how much the property is worth.
Tom Franke, representing DSI, said although it’s a “messy situation,” it is not unique as DSI workshops in other communities across the state are facing similar issues with property ownership.
The sheltered workshops became popular after many individuals with developmental disabilities were moved out of institutional settings in the mid-1970s, Franke said.
A 50-year lease on the property was put into place in 1975 between the school corporation and The Arc of Jackson County for $10 a year. That lease was later turned over to DSI and expires in 2025, Franke said.
There is a federal push, however, for states to get away from sheltered workshops and move clients more into the community by pushing for home- and community-based services, Franke said.
Also, most DSI clients who had been attending the workshop regularly stayed home during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said.
“There would be between 50 to 60 people there on a daily basis pre-COVID,” he said. “We don’t know when this is all said and done what is going to be the demand for a sheltered workshop.”
Franke said he doesn’t know how many clients will want to return and couldn’t promise the board that DSI wouldn’t sell the property if it was granted ownership.
“We don’t want to sell yet,” he said. “There’s no immediate desire to sell, but it’s going to happen someday, and we’re trying to clean this up now before that someday happens.”
DSI has been successful in reaching agreements to donate property with other entities in New Castle and Loogootee, he said.
There is no legal description available of the 3-acre property, Franke added. The property is a small triangular parcel in the northeast corner of what is otherwise farm ground owned by SCSC.
“The land was never officially separated,” he said. “We will need a surveyor to get a legal description and subdivide the land.”
DSI is willing to pay for those services if the school board agrees to donate the land, Franke said. If not, DSI is requesting the school board cover the costs.
School board trustee Jeff Joray said he wants an idea of how much the property is worth before agreeing to do anything.
School trustee Kenny Browning said he didn’t think there was a lot of value in the property or the building unless DSI was planning to make improvements.
Franke said the organization has no plans to add on or improve the facility at this time.