Decision delayed on property for new school

By KATHERINE GAZELLA

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 20, 2000

CITRUS PARK -- School district officials recently learned they will have to wait several months before moving forward on a proposed school site in a rapidly growing area in northwestern Hillsborough. Even then, they may not get the County Commission's approval to buy the property.

Which raises the question: Why doesn't the school district build a short distance to the east, on property it already owns?

School officials want to buy a 20-acre parcel south of S Mobley Road to relieve Westchase Elementary, which is critically crowded only a year and a half after opening. The property is part of about 1,500 acres owned by the county and Hillsborough's water department.

Earlier this month, county commissioners said they don't want the school district to buy the land until they decide what to do with the entire 1,500-acre parcel. Even if the county allows the school district to buy the land, it could take months before they can hold their first public meeting about it.

In the nearby Fawn Ridge community, the school district already owns 15 acres, which the developer set aside for an elementary school in the late 1980s, said Jill Lemons, property manager for the school district.

But Lemons said it isn't practical for the school district to use the property right now. If the school is built in Fawn Ridge, near a community park at the end of Exposition Drive, it would be too far away from Westchase and too close to Citrus Park Elementary, she said.

A new school is primarily needed to draw some students from the Westchase development, one of the fastest growing areas of the county, she said. The district is hoping to open the school in Aug. 2002.

If the school were built in Fawn Ridge, it would be difficult to draw attendance boundaries, said Bill Person, director of pupil assignment for the school district.

"The growth is in the west, not east," he said.

In 1998, county commissioners vowed the 1,500 acre property would be set aside for public use against development. Construction of giant athletic fields recently began on the county property, north of the proposed school site.

County Commissioner Jim Norman wants some of the property used as a connector to Lake Park, said county spokesman Steve Valdez.

He said county staffers will return to the commission within 60 days with a total plan for the property.

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.