The board of trustees approved an agreement with Bell South Commercial LLC for shared drainage and detention facilities at a district-owned site at a March 7 meeting.
What’s happening
The district owns 54 acres southwest of Hwy. 183 and Cypress Creek Road, which may serve as the site for a future school, Superintendent Bruce Gearing confirmed to Community Impact. While the property was originally purchased to build a middle school campus, the district currently has no concrete plans for the site, Gearing said.
“We don't have any current plans for that property, because it does depend on what future growth does in the district,” Gearing said.
Bell South will now build a stormwater drainage, detention and water quality pond on the district’s property to serve both organizations as the developer plans to build a commercial development nearby, according to district documents.
The developer will pay to construct and maintain the facilities on 1.2 acres to serve about 8.4 acres of the district’s site as the remaining land uses a separate water quality and detention pond, according to district documents. The joint stormwater facilities are necessary for the district to construct school facilities, the documents state.
The background
LISD plans to open several new schools over the next 10 years due to growth in the northern part of the district. Elementary School No. 30 is scheduled to open in August followed by an early childhood center in 2026, and three additional elementary schools, a middle school and a high school in future years.
In the southern portion of the district, LISD is seeing its student population decline, Gearing said. At a March 7 meeting, the board of trustees discussed opening enrollment to students outside of LISD at its central and southern schools as some campuses are being underutilized, district officials said.
An October demographic update showed some central and southern campuses are projected to lose students over the next decade.
