Walton County School District News

[Kurt]

As reported by WZEP AM 1460:

Walton Superintendent Carlene Anderson said the school district is growing and they need to look at the building and facility needs. This as the School Board began a workshop to look at the 2013-14 Capital Outlay Budget. Staff also presented the 5-year Facilities Plan and the Growth Analysis. She told the Board they may need to compress the budget to less than five years. Anderson talked about past class size reduction requirements and the past need for building, but says the need now is due to growth.


Facilities Coordinator Mark Gardner said needs they previously presented have come to pass. Planner Tom Blackshear showed numbers from the county showing most of the growth in the southern part south of the bay. Walton has added over 6000 residences in the last 10 years.


Gardner and staff recommended possibly purchasing 20 acres north of South Walton High for expansion of fields and a 9th grade academy. He also talked about land in the Peach Creek area near Emerald Coast Middle. He also said Emerald Coast Middle is no longer being looked at as a middle, rather a school that will include an elementary section to complement Bay and Butler. Bay could become a Pre-K center. They are still looking at a possible land swap with Forestry for Butler. Gardner said it is hard to find dry land in the south part of the county.


Freeport Elementary is to get three portables this summer. Gardner said this is to just stay even. They are looking at an 8 classroom addition for Freeport. The land donated by Jay Odom could also be used for a Hammock Bay facility. With the need for bus support services, a bus facility is being looked at. Gardner said Freeport middle needs a little TLC.


Walton Middle rework plans are underway. Gardner said one thing to look at is to either phase the Walton Middle construction or move the students to lower construction costs. Maude Saunders is being looked at for an 8 classroom addition. Paxton needs a computer lab and classrooms. Walton High has the athletic complex rework. Gardner said the district needs to look at digital upgrades.


Addressing needs, Gardner said they need to consider two new elementary schools in the southern part of the county that will have students in K through 5th and two new high schools with 6th through 12th. Talking about a bus barn at Freeport High, Gardner said he hopes the Board will consider Compressed Natural Gas. Gardner showed the land being offered by M.C. Davis, telling the Board they should jump on the purchase. Anderson noted it is hard to find comparables on 98.


Over the next five years the costs to meet the needs would be an over $30m deficit. This after a possible slight increase in the millage that would still be less than the millage before the voter approved half mill swap. Board member Mark Davis said they should look at the costs to borrow and build now, taking advantage of lower rates. Superintendent Anderson said they do not have the room for portables at all locations they need and the growth in the south is now east.


Expect another workshop on June 27th at 4pm.

 

[j p nettles]

I'm sure that if they need to purchase land, Jay Odom and M.C. Davis have just the right property.

 

[bentley williams]

The Walton County School Board held two workshops Tuesday afternoon, one covering financing for the remodeling and rebuild of Walton Middle School and the other for a site selection for a possible new school in southern Walton.


The new Walton Middle School is planned as a state of the art school with all the current technological school bells and whistles. The idea is to bring the school to the level of other schools and meet the demand for information technologies. Even the older buildings that will remain are to be brought up to the current standards. The consultant gave two ratings, a double A- and an A. This works towards the rates when financing. The cost of the new school is $36 million. This would mean about $2.2 million to $2.7 million a year for the payments, depending on the ratings and type of financing.


Sharon Roberts asked, with a possible new school to be built in southern Walton, would borrowing now hurt their chances to borrow for that school, or should they combine the two and borrow what they need at one time with various dates for draws. Mark Davis also had questions. The Consultant said the district has good borrowing capacity. No action was taken, but staff will move forward with financing possibilities.






Site Selection Committee


The Walton School Board would like to build another school in the south part of the county. The idea is to build a new High School and shift students to meet the growth south of the bay. The Board would like the new school to be on the east side. The continuing problem with new construction south of the bay is the limited amount of large land tracts that are dry enough to build on. The Walton Commissioners are looking at the same problem with their desire to build a new recreation complex.


The Site Selection Committee looked at the topography and for 30 acres of connected property. They also looked at infrastructure, compatibility, environmental considerations, well drained low water tables not in storm surge areas, and archaeological sensitivity.


The westernmost parcel fronts Chat Holly. Planner Tom Blackshear said this area was eaten up with wetlands and floodplains. The next is between JD Miller and Old Blue Mountain. Blackshear said this location is great because of what is close by. What hurt this parcel is what hurt other parcels, the soil. The four parcels are also impacted by flood plains.


Moving east, there are two pieces abutting Emerald Coast Middle School. One is west with better soils, but there is a stream system and flood plains. Parcels to the north also have beautiful property, according to Blackshear. But again it in the special flood hazard area, though storm surge does not look too bad.


The final piece is the old sprayfield area, about 33 acres. Blackshear said the property’s soils have changed after fill with a water table about five feet. He said it is the highest and driest. There are no storm surge areas. There is a second piece behind this acreage being offered to the county as a possible park. The developer is also planning to develop part of the area. This land fronts Highway 98. With buffers and a small amount of wetlands, the parcel would have about 30 acres of useable land. The land is about two miles east of the Middle School. With a possible 300 points on the ranking sheet, this property received 255. The next closest, the property north of the Middle School, was 201. The committee’s recommendation is to look at this property, called Forest View.


The attorney said the Board will have to get two appraisals. If they go very far over the appraisals, there would have to be an extraordinary vote of the Board. He also recommended title insurance. He agreed the decision was simply to get an appraisal, not to buy.


A representative for the second ranked choice, the property north of Emerald Coast Middle School, said his clients have 40 acres with over 30 usable. He also noted this connects to the current school so infrastructure can be shared. The creek flowing through the center could be used as part of the curriculum. The price is $2 million.


Later, in the regular meeting, the Board took the issue back up and voted 4-1 to get two appraisals on the first ranked property, the land that fronts 98. Sharon Roberts was the nay vote. The 33 acres is going for $100,000 an acre. As the attorney noted, the asking price and the appraisal price could be different.

 

[Tigertail]

Waiting.......

 

[weeniedawg]

Who owns the property that they want to buy?

 

[Bob Hudson]

MC Davis

 

[j p nettles]

All of Walton county's elected officials should dust off a plain old Webster's dictionary and look up the word, "bribe".

 

[j p nettles]

When will the school board vote to buy the land? The district is going to buy the land and Carlene Anderson will tell them who to buy it from.

 

[Andy A]

jp, what is you have against anybody making money and then expanding that wealth further? Evidently you know how to do it as your avatar shows a very nice aircraft which one would assume is yours. I don't care who the land belongs to now as it was probably purchased when it was worth much less. I do not see it as a "bribe" to conduct normal real estate business. Our system of economic operations is capitalism but somehow that seems to now have been forgotten by many.

 

[Jdarg]

I am trying to find out if any effort has been put forth by the district to look into full or partial land donations. I hope other options are being explored, not just an out- right purchase.