URBANA – A plan to convert a city-owned lot on Eads Street is intended to help Champaign schools redevelop Booker T. Washington School and help the local public housing authority expand a site in Urbana.

The lot at 1410 W. Eads St., U, will be discussed at an Urbana council study session at 7 p.m. Monday at the council chambers, 400 S. Vine St. The meeting will also include discussion on expansion of Olympian Drive.

Libby Tyler, city planner, said Urbana bought the dilapidated property so they could make the site available for development of low-income housing.

"It will help Dunbar Court expand and help the (Booker T. Washington) school, which is in Champaign, but all a part of the same neighborhood," Tyler said.

The city spent about $23,000 to buy the property at 1410 W. Eads St. in April 2009 and subsequently clear the land, according to a staff memo to council members.

In December, Champaign school officials contacted Urbana about a possible series of land acquisitions and trades that would improve parking and traffic flow for Booker T. Washington School, 606 E. Grove St., C.

Beth Shepperd, assistant superintendent for human resources for the school district, said the old Booker T. Washington school needs to be demolished to make room for a new and larger school, which will be energy-efficient, she said. It will become a magnet school, with a focus on science, technology, engineering and math.

Classes are being held in the former Columbia School building for 18 months, while the new Washington is built. The new school will be completed and ready for students in fall 2011, Shepperd said.

In early January, representatives of Urbana and Champaign city staff, the Housing Authority of Champaign County and Champaign schools met to talk about the plan. The housing agency will need a temporary parking lot to serve Dunbar Court public housing from West Eads Street, if the plan goes through.

According to the memo, the Champaign school district plans to buy 1410 W. Eads from the city and also buy 1412 W. Eads St., U. The city would combine the two properties into one lot and build a parking lot, which would be exchanged for Housing Authority-owned land along Wright Street next to the school.

This transfer would allow for improved bus loading for the school and allow the housing authority to expand the Dunbar Court site to the south.

Urbana council members will also discuss two proposed intergovernmental agreements and a budget amendment concerning Olympian Drive.

A pact between the city and the Illinois Department of Transportation lists Urbana as the lead agency for a $5 million grant for design and property acquisition to extend Olympian Drive.

That agreement projects design costs to be $1.750 million.

A separate pact between Urbana, Champaign and the county divides the Olympian Drive improvements into three phases: Project A, from Apollo Drive to Lincoln Avenue; Project B, from Lincoln Avenue to Cunningham Avenue; and Project C, from 1,400 feet west of Champion Avenue to Duncan Road.

Olympian Drive was conceived as part of an area transportation plan in 1960, according to a staff memo to council members.

In 2004, the first phase of Olympian Drive between Mattis Avenue and Apollo Drive was completed. In 2008-09, Olympian Drive was extended west of Mattis Avenue, past Champion Avenue.

About 3 miles remain to be completed, at an estimated cost of $27.5 million.

In recent months, critics of the plan say the road will disrupt farming.

Mayor Laurel Prussing said the city does not measure progress in pavement.

"We measure it in jobs created, in income created and benefits to the community," she said.

On Thursday, the Champaign County Farm Bureau board rejected by a vote of 25-2 a resolution to oppose development of Olympian Drive, according to Jerry Watson, president.

"We opposed the motion brought to us by our land-use committee," Watson said. "At this point, we just want to remain neutral on it.