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Pasco school district plans for more growth near Wesley Chapel

The 104-acre site will cost about $2.1 million.
 
The Pasco County School Board agreed to buy about 104 acres in east Pasco for a K-8 or high school campus, to handle growth from the "Connected City" development plans. [Pasco County Property Appraiser]
The Pasco County School Board agreed to buy about 104 acres in east Pasco for a K-8 or high school campus, to handle growth from the "Connected City" development plans. [Pasco County Property Appraiser]
Published March 6, 2019

Already beset with crowding and continuing growth, the Pasco County School Board on Tuesday agreed to buy a 104-acre site for a future school to handle the expected student increase.

With no comment, the board approved a contract for $20,000 per acre at the corner of Curley Road and Kiefer Road, in the bustling Wesley Chapel area. The site would house either a high school or K-8 campus.

The location fits with the county’s “Connected City” plan, anticipated to bring nearly 100,000 new residents to the east county corridor. District officials noted the site sits directly south of future phases of the Epperson Ranch subdivision, and just south of the planned Mirada community.

It’s an area that has grappled with growth for several years. Even with the opening of the Cypress Creek Middle-High campus a year ago, all high schools east of Interstate 75 are at 95 percent of capacity or higher. The same is true for all but one of the middle schools in the region.

The district has a new middle school building in the works for the Cypress Creek campus, to further ease crowding at the other schools. But as long as development continues there, more new schools will be needed.

Charter school developers also have been eyeing the area, with one opening last fall and more expected.