What It Costs For School Land These Days

Katy Citizen Watchdog$

We’re Taxpayers. It’s Our Money.

What It Costs For School Land These Days

Back To Watchdog Archives (“Commentary”)

As everyone knows by now, I think our school district should require developers to donate land if they want schools built in their subdivisions before most of the homes are sold.

The precedent was set in Katy ISD in 1992 with the building of Edna Mae Fielder Elementary School. The Cinco Ranch Development Corporation donated the land for this school to the school district. The school built on the land cost $4,951,000 initially.

The Cinco Ranch Development Corporation needed a school in Cinco Ranch in order to entice prospective home buyers to come to the area. The school district had never built schools in areas where there were not children living in the attendance zone already.

I would have to say that the investment by the Cinco Ranch Development Corporation was a good one for them as well as for the school district‘s taxpayers.

The practice of setting aside land for the purpose of school construction is an old one. Look at any 1800’s original plat map for any Texas county, and you will see whole sections set aside for the purpose of building public schools.

Too bad that practice didn’t continue. However, it is not too late to revive it. Think how economical it would be for school districts to designate school sites in all areas of the district. The land could then be purchased by the developer from the original owner with the full knowledge that he would be expected to donate that land to the school district if he built in the area and wanted a school constructed before there were students living in the attendance zones surrounding the site.

There are some states that already require an assessment on each home in a newly constructed area to pay for the schools that must be built.

It is important for the public to understand that the KISD school board and Dr. Merrell have significantly changed a prudent board practice, and that is that formerly schools were not built until the students who would inhabit them were present and living in the district. Accommodation for those students in new areas of the district was made in existing schools until those schools reached their actual, not manipulated, capacities. No public discussion of this change was ever made in public.

Here is a list of KISD’s currently held undeveloped properties and what the District paid for them. (Source: KISD Open Records Request) I asked for the names of the sellers, and since that information is a matter of public record, it would be illegal to withhold it. Hoping that someone has just forgotten to send it, I have asked for it again, but so far it has not been forthcoming. When I receive it, I will update this posting.

Cinco Ranch Site

The entire Cinco Ranch High School complex land was purchased on August 29, 1996. The purchase included both the acquisition of 130.875 acres, at a cost of $19,250 per acre, and 31.577 acres, at a cost of $5,000 per acre for a total cost of $2,677,228.75. Acquisition of the 31.577 acre parcel was required as part of the overall transaction and was foreseen as a potential support service [bus barn] site for the District. Due to the diminishing ability to easily access the site [and no proof of that inaccessibility has been offered to the public in an open meeting], the Board felt that it would be appropriate to consider the sale of the property. The Board approved the recommendation to declare the 31.577 acre parcel as surplus on January 23, 2006. The property was advertised for sale, bids were received and opened on April 10, 2006, and Falcon Ranch Associates bid $14,750.00 per acre. Ultimately, the transaction did not occur per the conditions of the contract. [No public indication as to the failure of that transaction as well as any information regarding the viability and acceptability of the other bids has been provided to the public in an open meeting.]

Broussard Site

Acreage of 0.975 acres was purchased in 1913 in the James Conner survey, A-157, Fort Bend County. The property is located south of Katy, southwest of Katy Flew Ellen (Cross-over Road) and Gaston Road intersection. There is no plan for use identified by the school district. The total purchase price was $1.00.

Green Trails Park Site

Acreage of 10.0923 acres was purchased in 1995 and includes all of the unrestricted Reserve A - Section 11, of Harris County. The property is located east [sic] of IH-10 on the southwest corner of Kingsland Blvd. and South Greenhouse Road. There is no plan for use of this property. [The property was originally intended as an elementary site for a school to relieve Nottingham Country Elementary.] The total purchase price was $395,500. Cost per acre was $39,188.29.

Morris & Cummings Site

Acreage of 131.3381 and 28.79 for a total of 160.2 acres was purchased in 1983 and 2005 and includes A229500A-295 of the Morris & Cummings, Tract 2, Fort Bend County. The property is located south of Katy on Gaston and Katy Road at Green Busch Road. The planned use of the property is for high school # VII and Stadium # 2. The total purchase price was $2,068,447. Cost for the two purchases would have been of differing amounts, but averaging the two, the cost per acre was $12,911.65.

Clay Road Site

Acreage of 31.9396 was purchased in 2001 and includes W.C.R.R. Comp Survey, Abstract 906, Section 21, Block 2 in Harris County. The property is located south of Clay Road and west of Greenhouse Road. The planned use of the property is for a junior high school. The purchase price was $1,391,288. Cost per acre was $43,559.97.

Wood Creek #1 Site

Acreage of 30.272 acres was purchased in 2003 and includes a portion of the Wood Creek Reserve Subdivision. The property is located within the Wood Creek Reserve Subdivision between Katy Flewellen road and FM 1463 south of I-10. The planned use of the property is for a junior high school. The purchase price was $1,598,310. Cost per acre was $52,798.30.

Morton Ranch Site

Acreage of 16.298 acres was purchased in 2003 and includes a portion of the Golbow tract. The property is located west of and adjacent to Morton Ranch Junior High. The planned use of the property is for an elementary school. The purchase price was $709,927. Cost per acre was $43,559.15.

Seven Meadows Site

Acreage of 12.2853 acres was purchased in 2003 and is part of the La Patillo Survey A-307 in Fort Bend County. The property is located on Gaston road and Seven Meadows Parkway at the intersection south of Fry Road and west of the Grand Parkway. The planned use of the property is for an elementary school. The purchase price was $722,452. Cost per acre was $58,806.22.

Firethorne Site

Acreage of 13.491 acres was purchased in 2005 from the William Ames Survey, Abstract 104 in Fort Bend. The property is located on the northeast corner of Firethorne Road and South Firethorne Road on FM 1463. The planned use of the property is for an elementary school. The purchase price was $734,564. Cost per acre was $54,448.45. [The reader should note the fact that the representative of the developer of Firethorne was a member of both of the 2006 bond committees, and is a frequent critic of the Watchdog$.]

Bhandara Property Site

Acreage of 47.2 acres was purchased in 2005 from the H.T.& C. Railroad Co. Survey, Abstract 452. The property is located on the northwest corner of Clay Road and Katy Hockley Road. The planned use of the property is for an elementary school and a junior high school. The purchase price was $849,600. Cost per acre was $18,000.

Cross Creek Ranch Site

Acreage of 123.09 acres was purchased in 2006. No indication given as to the legal description of the property or its actual location. The planned use of the property is for a junior high school and a high school. The purchase price was $4,000,425. Cost per acre was $32,500.

Mary McGarr, Katy Citizen Watchdog$

Date: 10/17/2006