The Cullman County Board of Education discussed the possibilities for its Section 16 land at Smith Lake Monday as new alcohol sales and a proposal to build a road and boat launch potentially increase its value.

The school board tossed around ideas for the nearly 445 acres it owns off County Road 204 in Crane Hill during its work session Monday night.

The Cullman County Commission has proposed building a road that accesses the property and a public boat launch, said Superintendent Shane Barnette. He reiterated Monday that the school district can only sell the land, not develop it.

For the past five years, the school board has been waiting for the right opportunity to capitalize on the property set aside for educational use decades ago.

When the Section 16 plan was conceived in 2010 by former superintendent Billy Coleman, the board adopted a plan for 90 percent of the eventual revenue to be deposited into a trust account in Cullman County, with 10 percent deposited into the school system’s general fund.

Any long-term financial gains for both local school systems — the county schools and Cullman City Schools — will come from interest earned on the remaining 90 percent. Interest payments will be distributed annually based on the number of students residing within the boundaries of each system. Current estimates would call for the county to receive 83 percent, with 17 percent going to the city system.

The school board acquired a 10-acre lot, which includes a partially finished home, in late 2014 for $1.2 million to provide an easement and right of way access to the system’s existing 435 acres of Section 16 property.

According to Cullman County property records, the school district’s Smith Lake parcels were appraised at around $2.7 million total in 2016.