Montgomery ISD trustees give go ahead for evaluating possible CTE, agricultural science center site

The Montgomery ISD board of trustees gave district officials the approval to enter into a due diligence phase Oct. 18 to explore a potential site for the proposed career and technical education and agricultural science centers, two projects funded by MISD's $326.9 million bond package approved by voters in May.

The proposed $61.61 million centralized CTE facility would serve both high schools as would the proposed $21.31 million centralized agricultural science center, according to previous reporting and bond estimates.

With the board's approval, Kris Lynn, assistant superintendent of finance and operations, said the due diligence phase will begin for the property, which entails an environmental study, surveys and wetlands determinations. The potential site spans 35 acres in the Town Creek Crossing area near Lone Star Parkway and Buffalo Springs Drive, Lynn said during the meeting.

“We have researched several parcels of land throughout this process; we feel that this parcel is going to be the parcel that best meets our needs when it comes to things, such as utilities, flood plain and drainage—and most importantly the overall fit," Lynn said. "It’s kind of hard when you’re looking to build a state-of-the-art CTE center and an ag science center. Normally those two facilities don’t go together on the same piece of property. ... We think we’ve found the piece of property to accomplish that task.”

Lynn also said the 35-acre property would include space for one or both facilities to be expanded in the coming years.

"We want a piece of land that will allow ... these facilities to be expanded as time passes. We don’t know what future CTE programs or what the needs of the ag science program will be in future years, and so we want to make sure we have ample space to expand as needed," he said.

In addition, Lynn said the potential site is located away from a congested road and is centrally located to both Montgomery and Lake Creek high schools to ensure the facilities are a part of both high schools, not favoring one or the other, an aspect he said was important to the bond committee when preparing the recommended bond projects earlier this year.

Lynn said the district will present findings from the due diligence phase to board members before proceeding with purchasing the property.

"This is just the first step, but it is an exciting first step for this project," he said.

In September, the board of trustees approved the purchase of 20 acres off FM 2854 for its Elementary School No. 7, another project included in the 2022 bond package.