School Board Rejects Land Proposals

School district staffers are headed back to the negotiating table to haggle a lower price on land for future school sites.

The school board said they want a lower price or they're not interested in four separate tracts, including three for future school sites. The asking prices for all four total more than $8 million dollars.

Of the three potential future school sites, the board is most interested in nearly 60 acres of pasture land on Lockhart Road, just south of State Road 50 in Brooksville.

The owner is asking for nearly $5.4 million, or $90,000 an acre. No formal property appraisals have been done on the property, but comparable land is going for between $16,000 and $30,000 an acre, according to district staff.

That's a huge gap, but Facilities Director Bo Bavota said it's a nice piece of property and worth more haggling.

"I'd like to take another swing at it," Bavota said. "It's good, buildable land."

The property is also centrally located and close to the massive development project dubbed Sunrise planned for the area around the junction of I-75 and S.R. 50.

School board member Pat Fagan said the district should consider selling an 80-acre tract on McKethan Road in Brooksville to help pay for the Lockhart property if the price comes down enough. Fagan also suggested the district ask the Sunrise developer, which had provided a chunk of land for a school, for money instead.

Board members balked at proposals for other tracts. One is comprised of nearly 20 acres on the corner of S.R. 50 and Hadley Drive. The owner is asking for $900,000, or more than $45,000 per acre for the property located a few miles west of Interstate 75.

And they seemed downright offended by the asking price of $1.8 million - or $45,000 per acre - for five parcels totaling 40 acres on U.S. 98, two miles south of the junction with the Suncoast Parkway and near the World Woods golf course.

"Well, for golfers it might be wonderful but how dare they ask (for that price)," board member Dianne Bonfield said. "Do they realize we're a public school system? It's unbelievable."

The board also gave Bavota the OK to try to work a deal with the owner of more than five acres of land adjacent to Parrott Middle School that would be used for a second entrance and separate bus loop for Parrott Middle School. The owner had indicated an interest in donating the property, but now wants $141,500, or $25,000 an acre.

Bavota recommended the district should ask for right of way and an easement on the land for the entrance and offer to improve the drainage and build a retention pond there. That will increase the land's value and pay off for the owner when the Florida Department of Transportation, which plans to eventually widen Cobb Road, comes looking to buy the property, Bavota said.