The details
Argyle Town Council approved the site plan for the elementary school during its April 21 meeting.
The elementary school will be 104,685 square feet with two stories and 61 classrooms, according to town documents. The building can hold a total of 850 students.
It will be located on the same property as the AISD middle school currently under construction.
The discussion
The council discussed the planning and zoning commission's recommendation of adding more trees in the playground areas.
Argyle ISD Construction Manager Jeff Cohen mentioned some concerns he had with putting trees in the playground area of the school. Issues included tripping hazards caused by staking down the new trees, branches potentially falling down as the trees grow, trees blocking cameras put in place to observe the playground and the constant maintenance of leaf litter.
The site plan exceeds the amount of trees the town requires with the middle school site plan, Cohen said. The playgrounds will have canopies, he added.
The Town Council decided not to include that condition in the approved motion.
“While I appreciate wanting to get as many trees as possible, I think that the school has gone above and beyond as far as planting some extra [trees] here,” council member Cynthia Hermann said. “We’re only requiring they have six and they have 23, granted they are a little bit smaller, but [the] multiples that [they] have there are helping to make up for that.”
Additional details
The traffic impact shows that the middle school and elementary school will bring in 4,450 new vehicles on an average weekday with 1,433 trips during a.m. peak hours and 815 trips during p.m. peak hours.
This traffic impact requires mitigations to accommodate the increase in traffic, which are already being implemented with the construction of the middle school, including:
- An exit-only west driveway connection to FM 407
- A westbound dedicated right-turn deceleration lane on FM 407 for the east driveway connection
- An eastbound left-turn deceleration lane on FM 407 for the east driveway connection
- Westbound and eastbound turn lanes for traffic exiting the east driveway connected to FM 407
- A traffic signal on the eastbound driveway connected to FM 407
A driveway will be added at Postmaster Lane, and a gate will be installed to restrict the access point for emergency vehicles only.
The applicant is proposing 399 parking spaces for the entire site, including the middle school.
Some context
The elementary school and middle school are being built to accommodate the growing student population for AISD, Community Impact previously reported.
Currently, 6,100 students are enrolled for the 2024-25 school year, over 200 more than expected, according to Zonda Education data. By 2033-34, the district could serve over 11,000 students, nearly double its current student population.
The middle school is currently under construction with anticipated completion in summer 2026.
A special use permit for the middle school was approved by Argyle Town Council on Jan. 22, 2024, while the elementary school was approved with the condition that access to Postmaster Lane or Sam Davis Road be prohibited.
Council reconsidered the special use permit for the elementary school March 18 and approved the emergency access on Postmaster Lane, which allowed the district to move forward with the site plan.
On April 2, the planning and zoning commission approved the elementary school site plan 4-2 with Commissioner Marilyn Lewis and Chair Paul Kula in opposition.
What's next?
The elementary school will begin construction at the end of 2025 or beginning of 2026, officials from AISD said. Future lane closures on FM 407 are expected to occur with the middle school construction, but the district does not know specific details about the scope or when the lanes will close.
The elementary school is expected to open for the 2027-28 school year, Cohen said.
