Austin ISD board mulls potential land purchase

The AISD board is working to figure out if it should move forward with buying land now. Previously, the board was trying to determine if “land banking,” or securing land for the future, was a good idea, Teich said.

Those who oppose land banking

District 1 trustee Edmund Gordon asked why there was opposition on land banking.

Paul Turner, AISD executive director of facilities, said the Comptroller’s Office used to tell AISD staff that the district is not in the business of being landowners, and the land that it does own is intended to be used for educational purposes.

“If you have excess land, surplus land, the push is toward disposing of that unless there is some kind of compelling need that you have for them,” Turner said. “Again, it’s not something necessarily where someone comes around and says, ‘Why do you still have this land?’ But it is kind of an expectation that we’re not in the business of owning land unless we really need it for something.”

The public was an additional source of land banking criticism, Turner said.

“There are many in the community … that disagree that we actually have a need to purchase this land today,” District 5 trustee Amber Elenz said. “We have some overcrowded schools, but we have some under-enrolled schools in the south.”

Elenz asked Roth, for those who disagree about there being a need for new high school now, what the argument is for moving forward with a land acquisition. In response, Roth said he can advise on land values, ease of development or fulfillment of various goals, but he did not want to make an argument or rationalization for moving forward.

Long-term plans

Roth said he does not think it is unreasonable to buy land now for a need 10 years into the future, depending on how sure the board is on having the need.

Gordon then asked Roth for a long-term projection for the availability and price of large tracts of land in Austin. Roth said, in 10 to 30 years, there will be fewer tracts of land in Austin, and those tracts will be more expensive compared with now.

“It’s always better to buy with less money,” Roth said. “You wouldn’t have an opportunity to get as much of a discount now as you could have five years ago, no question.”

Roth also talked about the pros and cons of buying land in Southwest Austin versus Southeast Austin when trustees asked for a comparison.

In Southwest Austin, land is more expensive and development is more difficult compared with Southeast Austin, Roth said.

However, in both areas, utilities, heritage trees, access and roadways are an issue, he added.

District 6 trustee Paul Saldaña said AISD should make timetables associated with bond elections, noting that people will assume AISD will build once land is purchased.

One scenario is that it would take AISD four years and three months to build a high school if the district held a bond election in May 2016; the other scenario is that it would take five years and two months to build a high school if a bond election was held in November 2016.

“So in the interim that does nothing to address overcrowding and under-enrollment in schools,” Saldaña said.