UPDATE:Â The Hamilton County Commission approved a bid for the Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts project at the current Lakeside property, which will cost over $30 million.
The commission accepted a bid from contractor TriCon, Inc for the project, amounting to $30,690,000.
"This $30 million is going to repurpose Lakeside Elementary into a K-12 magnet school," Commissioner Tim Boyd said.
PREVIOUS STORY: It took more than twenty years, but a decision has been made on the Chattanooga School for the Liberal Arts. It will relocate to the current Lakeside Academy property on Highway 58.
The decision comes after a 6-3 vote at the Hamilton County School Board meeting Thursday night.
"Lakeside Elementary is not being closed so that CSLA can go there, I think it's very important for everybody to know," School Board District 2 representative Kathy Lennon said.
Students were already being moved from Lakeside to Harrison Elementary at the beginning of next year.
The discussion was heated at times. District 9 representative Dr. Steve Highlander asked to delay the vote after hearing a proposal from County Commissioner Tim Boyd to tear down the current CSLA building and build a new one on the property.
"He want to tell us how to do our job, but we don't tell them how to do their job and we have board members that buy into that and that irks my very soul because that's politics over children," School Board District 5 representative Karitsa Jones said.
That proposal would likely have taken the $25 million in bond money already available, plus additional funds.Â
In the end, CSLA, on the facilities replacement list since 1999, will move from its old, problem-plagued building on East Brainerd Road to Highway 58. A state-of-the-art makeover of the Lakeside building will be ready by August 2022.
"I want to build CSLA now. I think it's important. I don't think we need to wait," Lennon said.
"I'm just ready to move on with this so we can get on with something else, some of the other building that need to be done in our districts," Hamilton County School Board District 1 representative Rhonda Thurman said.
Jones, Jenny Hill, and Tiffanie Robinson voted no. Hill said she doesn't feel the Lakeside community is being heard.Â