Mentor Schools Board of Education unanimously approved a land lease with the city of Mentor during its meeting Tuesday night.

The lease allows the city to build a detention basin in a 14-acre area behind Bellflower Elementary.

The proposed basin would prevent Two Town Ditch, which drains about 800 acres in Ward 3, from overflowing during heavy rains.

"I believe (the basin's) saving the future for the Silver Mound and St. James area," said Ward 3 Councilman Ed Walsh, who attended the school board meeting.

"I'm happy and thankful to the schoolboard, (Superintendent) Dr. (Jacqueline) Hoynes and the whole school administration," Ward added.

Boardmember Drew Sparacia did suggest one amendment that the board added to the lease before approving it.

Part of the lease permits the school to take the property back if it ever needs it. The board added the qualifier that the property would still have all the potential uses it had before it became a basin.

Additionally, the school will still be able to use the property most of the time because the basin is only expected to fill during the heaviest of rains.

The school district is only charging the city $1 per year for the lease.

Work will not begin immediately on the basin. It still needs to be approved by City Council and grant money needs to be procured to make the basin, Walsh said.

"We got to get the grant money and get to work but it's a major step in the right direction," Walsh said.

City Manager Kenneth Filipiak told The News-Herald that the basin would be able to capture 80 percent of the water at the upstream end and as much as 35 percent at the downstream end.