The sale, worth nearly $117,900, was approved at the PISD’s board of trustees Oct. 8 meeting.
The overview
TxDOT identified a section of land along Sam Jamison Middle School that is needed to accommodate road widening and infrastructure improvements, according to district agenda documents.
Agenda documents note the sale will have minimal impact on school operations.
The FM 518 project will include increasing the existing four lanes and a center turn-lane to three lanes going north and south bound each, along with turning lanes at strategic locations, according to TxDOT sale proposal documents.
By the numbers
The total land, which is nearly 5,600 square feet, is valued at over $83,700 at $15 per square foot, according to district documents.
Other costs contributing to the sale include the following:
- $25,726 in about 410 linear feet of chain link fences with privacy slats
- $6,412 in chain link backstop
- $2,042 in damages ($1,329 for fencing and $713 for backstop)
“It is just a sliver of land in the front that is not developed,” PISD Superintendent Larry Berger said at the meeting. “It is not forcing us to move a building, it is not taking a building, what it is taking down is the chain link fence and the backstop. It’s the entire frontage, so ... about a 10-foot push-in from the road into the recess area or green space.”
Board trustee Sean Murphy said he didn’t disagree with the sale of $15 per square foot, but he said there could’ve been an opportunity for the district to receive more in the offer if the appraisal evaluated the entire property, and not just the land that was being sold.
“When they valued our property, they valued it based upon what just the land would be without any of the building or the improvements or anything else, so it’s hard to determine if the true price per square foot is real market value,” Murphy said at the meeting. “I don’t have a problem with the $15. I’d like to have more based upon the way they have to do appraisal and if they would’ve evaluated the total property, not just the total land and given us a number.”
