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School construction lawsuit put on hold

Hearings between a neighborhood group and the school district could start next year.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published October 30, 2005

KEYSTONE - The Hillsborough County School District has won a postponement in a lawsuit that seeks to block construction of an elementary school at Gunn Highway and N Mobley Road.

Hearings, originally to start this Tuesday, will take place at a later date, possibly in April.

Although the school district and the Keystone Civic Association are not squaring off in court, the two sides are saying plenty behind the scenes.

Civic association lawyer John Thomas said the school district has failed to find an appropriate site and instead is "still trying to jam this square peg into this round hole."

The organization, which sued in 2004, says a school for close to 1,000 children would generate too much traffic. It also argues that the chosen property doesn't comply with the Keystone community plan.

While civic association president Mindee Cobb accused the school district of 20 years of poor planning, school district chief of staff Jim Hamilton took the rhetoric even further.

"I think it's very sad that people in Keystone are so antichildren, that they would like schools for their children so far away," Hamilton said.

As the case drags on, surrounding elementary schools Westchase, McKitrick, Citrus Park, Bellamy, Northwest and especially Bryant are filled beyond capacity.

The school district is contending with continued population growth at a time when the state's class size reduction rules are shrinking capacity at schools. The Gunn Highway school is "absolutely critical" to correct that problem, Hamilton said.

If necessary, he said, the school district will consider busing children from Keystone, which has been openly hostile to a new school, to lesser-crowded schools until a nearby viable site emerges.

A few locations are in the works.

The County Commission and School Board have put a land swap deal near Fawn Ridge on the fast track, which could lead to a new school in the next year or two. Talks continue for a small site in the Highland Park subdivision on Race Track Road, and school district planners are re-examining the possibility of building on the Walker Middle School campus on N Mobley Road.

But those sites are not substitutes for the Gunn Highway spot, school facilities director Cathy Valdes said. "One thing doesn't preclude the need for another."

Keystone civic leaders say they are not antichild, but that the Gunn Highway site is better suited for homes and shops.

"We should all get together and fight the School Board and the County Commission," Cobb said. "They're the ones who are responsible."

Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 813 269-5304 or solochek@sptimes.com

[Last modified October 29, 2005, 09:48:04]