On Tuesday, April 26, 2022, the Lexington County School District One Board of Trustees voted to rescind a motion authorizing the district to enter into option agreements related to land needed to build an elementary school in the River Bluff area attendance zone. 

The decision came, as we began the due diligence process, prior to the official execution of the option agreements. The decision halts the land acquisition process on all four pieces of property located off Corley Mill Road. 

The district will continue to seek and evaluate property to build the school in the River Bluff area.

The school is part of the district’s five-year building plan (2018–2023) which was approved by voters in 2018.

On March 15, 2022, the Lexington County School District One Board of Trustees entered into option agreements related to land needed to build an elementary school in the River Bluff area attendance zone. 

The school is part of the district’s five-year building plan (2018–2023) which was approved by voters in 2018.

You may watch the administration’s presentation regarding this land, given at the March 15, 2022 Board Meeting, here beginning at the 1:06:53 mark. 

The proposed location is off Corley Mill Road in Lexington. 

The district entered into four separate option agreements to begin the land acquisition process. However, the purchase is contingent on the district purchasing all pieces of property. 

The first parcel, TMS #003500-01-014 owned by Beverly G. Kleckley, contains approximately 30 acres. 

The second parcel, TMS #003500-01-012 owned by Riverlee Associates, LLC, contains approximately 2.26 acres. 

The third parcel, TMS #003500-01-099 owned by Joseph L. Kleckely, contains approximately 9.5 acres.

The fourth parcel, TMS #003500-02-165 owned by River Gate and Associates, LLC, contains .04 acres. 

The board’s action to accept the administration’s recommendation to enter into these four option agreements begins the district’s due diligence process, as the purchase of property for a site is a specialized and intricate process. 

The due diligence includes many South Carolina Department of Education, South Carolina Department of Transportation and Lexington County guidelines that impact the purchase of land. 

As you know, land is limited in Lexington County, especially in the River Bluff area. The district evaluated multiple pieces of property for the River Bluff area elementary school. When choosing possible sites to build a school, the district considers various factors including, but not limited to, the following:

• cost per acre of available land
• cost to develop available land
• infrastructure availability
• topography
• traffic 
• concentration of students

As more homes are built in this desirable area, more families move there. We build schools where the students are. 

The school district entered into four separate option agreements to begin the land acquisition process. 

The first parcel contains approximately 30 acres. The second parcel contains approximately 2.26 acres. The third parcel contains approximately 9.5 acres. The fourth parcel contains approximately .04 acres. 

In the proposal, the school building would be built on the largest (30 acre) tract of land. Most of the smaller tracts of land would be used for infrastructure, the school’s entrance and turning lanes into the entrance. The proposal also includes a road which would allow for substable stacking of cars during drop-off and pick-up to mitigate traffic on Corley Mill Road. The smallest (.04 acre) tract is needed for a turning lane and traffic mitigation. 

Yes. The school district always evaluates traffic when considering school sites. Chief Operations Officer Jeff Salters discussed some of those traffic numbers in this presentation given to the Board of Trustees (1:17:57 time mark). 

It is also important to note that as with all school builds, the South Carolina Department of Transportation will conduct a traffic study to examine the available road frontage, the depth of the property and the ability to provide necessary traffic circulation if/when a site is purchased.

The new school will localize traffic, allowing many families to travel shorter distances to school. Many families who will eventually be zoned for the River Bluff area elementary school are currently traveling to either Midway Elementary or Meadow Glen Elementary. Most of them will not have to travel as far once this new school is built which will reduce traffic in some areas.

The district hopes to partner with neighborhoods located adjacent to our schools to provide safe access to the school campus.

It is not unusual for the school district to do traffic improvements when building a school. We often construct turning lanes, add traffic signals and pave roads to ensure safe accessibility to our schools. You may recall the district constructed Northside Boulevard when building Meadow Glen Elementary and Meadow Glen Middle School to allow more access to those schools. Once completed, Northside Boulevard was turned over to the Town of Lexington and Lexington County for maintenance and upkeep. 

For the proposed site for the River Bluff area elementary school, the road will allow for considerable stacking of cars on the property. This stacking configuration is lengthier than most of our schools to help alleviate traffic on Corley Mill Road.

A majority of voters approved the building a new elementary school in this attendance zone in 2018. With that approval, a majority voiced they wanted a new school. That being said, the district continuously evaluates ways to support student growth throughout our county. 

We don’t have adequate expansion space at either Midway Elementary or Meadow Glen Elementary to support the student growth we are experiencing, and continue to project, in this area. More students at MES or MGES would also mean more traffic at those schools, where traffic is already heavy. The schools’ common spaces (cafeterias, gyms, libraries) could not support hundreds of extra students and therefore, an addition would have to be large enough to not only include more classrooms, but also larger common spaces.  

We’ve also been asked if we could build second floors to these existing schools. Extensive structural upgrades would have to take place to add a second floor. We could not conduct school on the first floor while we added a second floor, and a second floor would take longer to build than just the summer months when students aren’t in the building. This is just not a feasible plan. 

Citizens may reach out to board members to share concerns. You can find their contact information on this webpage. 

Citizens may also speak during the Citizens’ Participation portion of the Board of Trustees meetings. 

Entering into option agreements begins the due diligence process which typically takes between 4 and 6 months. The land must now be appraised. The district will then negotiate a price with the sellers. 

The Board of Trustees must then vote again to approve that price, which allows the district to complete its due diligence. At that time, environmental studies, topographic surveys and SCDOT reviews take place. 

Once that due diligence is complete, the board must vote to close on the property to complete the process.