The 13.6 acres of land adjacent to Oxford High School officially belongs to the school district.

At the March 26 board of education meeting, Superintendent Tim Throne announced that the district was closing on the land. The purchase, costing $500,000, was approved by the board on Nov. 27, 2018.

Though the district doesn’t currently have any plans for the land, it will serve as a sort-of security deposit for the district, which expects to grow. It could be used for an OHS expansion, office space, parking, another school building, athletic fields or something else entirely.

“We are investing in the future, I mean with everything,” Treasurer, then trustee, Korey Bailey said on Nov. 27. “We started off with this property (and) you know, we may not touch this for 10 years, but we’re preparing for it. And it’s a good investment for the school, for future generations.”

The buy, repeatedly described by school board trustees as a “good business decision,” comes after an extension in December 2018 giving the district more time to close on the property.

Throne asked for the extension so as to not let details fall through the cracks in the buying process.

The land was bought from the Bingham Farms-based Burton-Katzman, and the funds came from the district’s general fund.