What happened with the recently acquired $1.25 million, 12-acre school site at 9300 White Rock Trail depends upon whom you talk to. 

RISD Superintendent Carolyn Bukhair and other school administrators say many Lake Highlands residents convinced the board – after the land purchase – to abandon RISD’s plans for the land.

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But Lake Highlands resident and Realtor Peggy Hill says residents complained loud and long – before the purchase – about the land’s problems. 

At issue are RISD’s stated original plans to turn the low-lying tract into a new junior high school site to relieve overcrowding at Lake Highlands and Forest Meadow Junior High schools.

The board approved the land purchase Jan. 22, just before Bukhair became superintendent. At the time, RISD assistant superintendent for administrative services Will Jacob insisted the site was a good land deal for the district.

But soon after the Feb.8 purchase, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kirk London says administrators decided the lot was too small for the junior high. Also, the site’s 12 acres include four acres of floodplain, which can’t be used to construct buildings.

Following the purchase, the board received a large amount of negative feedback about the land during several public meetings, London says. It was then that the board concluded the Lake Highlands community didn’t want a school on the White Rock Trail land because they were concerned about traffic problems on White Rock Trail, London says.

Residents felt the road was too narrow for a school because it was a two-lane road without any shoulders or sidewalks, Jacob says.

Hill sees things differently.

She and other neighborhood residents researched the land for days prior to the purchase, she says. They discovered the floodplain would significantly impact construction, the land needed to be rezoned and trash had been dumped on it for years, Hill says.

The residents presented their objections to the purchase at the board’s Feb. 5 meeting, Hill says, but the board purchased the land anyway.

Bukhair says the land was purchased at a “very reasonable price” and will benefit the school district in one way or another.

“It’s considered an asset to the district because one thing this district doesn’t have is space,” Bukhair says.

London says if and when RISD sells the land, the board will recover its original investment.

Hill says she is skeptical RISD will get its money back “unless DART wants to buy it.”