The Kent State Board of Trustees approved a land swap between the university and the City of Kent at a special board meeting in Columbus Thursday.

The swap exchanges a one half-acre parcel of land along the west side of Depeyster Street with a little more than one half-acre piece of city property along Erie Street.

“We had to do this now,” said President Lester Lefton.

Lefton explained the new properties were of equal value and the university would incur no additional costs for the swap.

“Failure to do this would mean the re-routing of our esplanade,” said Trustee Dennis Eckart.

Jacqueline Woods, the Board of Trustees chair, said university officials were under the impression approval of the land swap could be done at the Sept. 14 board meeting. But bank officials since informed the university that approval would need to be pushed up in order to meet project deadlines.

Contact Summer Kent Stater editor Julie Sickel at [email protected].