LEXINGTON, S.C. (Paul Kirby) — The Lexington County School District One Board of Trustees recently accepted the district administration’s recommendation to enter into option agreements to buy land near Old Cherokee Road and Cherokee Trail needed to relocate Lexington Middle School. An option agreement normally means that they will only buy the land if it meets certain set criteria spelled out in the agreement.
The district will eventually need to buy four parcels, each covered under one of these agreements, to begin the new Lexington Middle School. Each option agreement includes two parcels of land. The district intends to eventually buy all four pieces. In fact, the purchases will only take place if the district can close on all four properties at the same time. Basically, they need all four pieces of property, and if one becomes unavailable, the whole deal could come to a stop.
The first option agreement includes two parcels of land. The first parcel is approximately 23.57 acres. The second parcel is approximately 10 acres.
The second option agreement also includes two parcels of land. The third parcel is about 27.9 acres and the forth is just under one-half acre. If bought, all four pieces could be combined into one large tract that would be about 62 acres for building the new school.
Land for schools must meet a number of requirements the school district has no control over. Many are set by the South Carolina Department of Education, the South Carolina Department of Transportation and Lexington County. Purchasing land for a school site isn't as easy as buying property to build a home, or even an office.
The first thing district administrators do when looking at a piece of land is to determine the location of the land. Does the location of the property meet the district’s current and future needs for property in that area? Then, they consider whether the South Carolina Department of Transportation would approve the available road frontage. The property has to be deep enough so that traffic can circulate on the site. Schools now have to accommodate the line of automobiles there for student drop-off and pick-up on the school’s property during peak times.
Last year, voters in Lexington School District One approved a $365 million five-year building plan. That plan included the relocation of Lexington Middle School. This will ensure that the district can continue to offer its students the facilities they need now and in the future.
Since the district understands that Lexington District One residents want to keep up with the progress of the building plan, the district developed a webpage to do just that. This site, found by clicking HERE, enables residents to see what is currently happening at their child’s school and includes “before” photographs, the current phase taking place, photographs of that progress, etc.
