School is needed to accommodate the area’s future growth
By B.C. Manion
The Pasco County School Board has approved the purchase of 22 acres for an elementary school site, on the south site of SR 54, across from the Ballantrae subdivision.
The new school – not expected to be constructed for five to 10 years – will provide future relief to Oakstead and Odessa elementary schools, said Linda Cobbe, spokeswoman for Pasco County Schools.
The site is within the Smith 54 mixed-use project, which calls for offices, a shopping center, a hotel and multifamily housing.
The site is off SR 54, between US 41 and the Suncoast Parkway, in one of the county’s high-growth corridors.
School district data notes that nearly 1,200 elementary students live in the area, and another 1,200 are expected when the 6,863 approved homes in the area are built.
The district’s current elementary schools are designed for 762 students.
The district anticipates it will need a minimum of three elementary schools to serve the area, and at this time, Oakstead Elementary is the only noncharter school located in the corridor.
Two more public elementary schools are needed in the corridor, according to documents prepared by the district’s planning staff.
To help address that need, the Pasco School Board approved a $2.2 million purchase of the 22-acre site within a mixed-use housing development known as Smith 54. The tract is on the south side of SR 54, approximately 1.5 miles east of the Suncoast Parkway.
Two appraisals were done on the property, with one coming in at $85,000 per acre and the other at $130,000 per acre. The district purchased the site for $101,000 per acre.
In the short term, the reopening of Sanders Elementary is expected to relieve Oakstead, Cobbe said.
