Things are looking positively for Williston's New Public School District 8 as it hopes to purchase the current Natwick Roofing property for a storage/bus facility and future school district offices.

The school district's proposal to purchase the buildings located at 117 7th Ave. West is under review by the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, said district superintendent Greg McNary.

DPI assistant superintendent of schools Bob Marthaller reviews such proposals and provides a recommendation to the State Superintendent Dr. Wayne Sanstead. Marthaller said state law gives Sanstead the authority to approve or disapprove such proposals.

"From what I see here, it looks like something we will be able to approve and move forward," Marthaller said Friday morning. "I have talked with Greg several times. I'm aware of what they are attempting to do. It seems like a good plan for them."

Marthaller said there is an approval process for such proposals that states any project over $40,000 needs to be approved by the department. Any project over $150,000 also needs a facility plan, which is about a 25-page document, he said. The facility plan has districts look at enrollments, financing, alternatives for the proposed project and other items.

"The project is desperately needed for our district to lower costs and create more efficiency," McNary said.

The Natwick property includes a larger structure where the district can park its buses, has space to maintain vehicles and can store necessary items.

The district had previously moved out of its old offices and sold its property where its former offices and storage facilities were located to Williams County.

The county demolished the structures to build a new youth assessment center on the property.

The Natwick proposal also includes a smaller, second structure where the district offices could be located. The school district continues to rent office space from the Williston Public School District 1 in its main administrative building.

"We're estimating it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $90,000 to renovate that office to make it ADA compliant," McNary said.

The district may not go ahead with the remodeling of the future office space at this time, however, as its offices can remain at their current location.

"The (school) board will have to make a decision when they would want to renovate those offices," McNary said.