After months of discussions, the Polk County School Board has declined to purchase a 93-acre site in northeast Polk for an undetermined use.
The vote was 4-2 against a proposal to buy the land for $9.235 million. Board members William Allen, Travis Keyes, Justin Sharpless and Kate Wallace voted against the purchase at the April 28 meeting, while Lisa Miller and Sara Beth Wyatt voted for it. Kay Fields was absent for a family emergency.
The School Board has discussed the possible purchase in meetings since at least August. Board members had postponed at least two planned votes at previous meetings.
The property, consisting of five individual parcels, lies just north of Lake Marion Creek Road, about two miles east of Haines City. District staff said the property could be used for a future school or other purposes, determining that it might be large enough to hold a high school.
The district is moving toward construction of a new high school about three miles to the southeast, in the Poinciana area. That school is expected to open in fall 2028.
Northeast Polk has seen dramatic population growth in recent years. The three existing high schools in the area all serve more students than their intended capacity.
“This strategically located site offers ample space to co-locate a future school facility with a centralized maintenance and transportation depot, optimizing land use and long-term planning flexibility,” a staff analysis said.
The nearest district maintenance site is about 19 miles to the south, with drive times ranging from 45 minutes to an hour, the analysis said.
Members offer range of objections
Allen and Keyes had questioned the wisdom of the purchase at previous meetings, before planned votes were postponed. They repeated their objections at the April 28 meeting.
In a discussion before the vote, Keyes emphasized that the School Board had recently learned the district faces costs of $827 million for deferred maintenance on existing properties.
“I don’t see where we can, in good conscience, purchase a piece of land that we have no direct use for currently,” Keyes said. “And even so, on the agenda, it was labeled as for school use, and we have already identified that it may not be for school use.”
Allen offered other reasons for opposing the purchase.
“I just think there’s a utility risk associated with it — just as noted previously, that we’re looking at about 16,000-plus feet of force main that’s not been established,” Allen said. “So I just see that as a high risk.”
Allen also raised concerns about the zoning status of the property. And he said the position of a real-estate broker who also owned part of the property created “a transparency concern.”
Sharpless said that he heeded Keyes’ suggestion from a previous meeting and drove out to examine the property.
“When I drove there, I noticed that the road itself, it’s a very small, little two-lane road, kind of out there in the Northeast Polk — kind of in Polk County vernacular, we say it’s out there in sticks,” Sharpless said. “And so it concerned me.”
Marion Creek Road is on Polk County’s list of roads scheduled for improvements, fully funded at $6.6 million and now in the design phase.
Wallace was appointed in November to fill a vacancy on the School Board. In her comments, she noted that she joined after consideration of the purchase had already begun. Wallace, director of state government affairs for Charter Communications, questioned the cost of extending utilities, including broadband service, to the site.
Miller: Trying to avoid portables
Wyatt countered by saying that if the district had not banked land in then-undeveloped areas 30 or 40 years ago, it might not have been able to build schools such as Chain of Lakes Elementary in Winter Haven.
“So I do have concerns, whether it’s this property or others, that Polk County is not stopping growing, especially in that northeast area, that as we look at what we own currently, that we need to make sure that we do have sites available,” Wyatt said.
Given the rate of development, she added, the district can no longer easily find large tracts of former citrus groves to buy.
Miller said the decision not to buy the property could result in the use of portable buildings at overcrowded schools, a prospect the district has sought to avoid. Miller suggested that the School Board adopt written policies or procedures that prevent repeatedly tabling a vote.
After the meeting, Miller shared with The Ledger an email she sent to Polk Schools Superintendent Fred Heid and School Board Attorney James Greene.
“Taxpayer-funded staff time has value,” Miller wrote. “When projects are repeatedly delayed, tabled, or informally negotiated outside meetings, it wastes staff resources, creates uncertainty for applicants, and weakens public trust. The board should make timely decisions in the open.
“For items requiring board approval (like land use, rezonings, agreements, etc.): I’m requesting we discuss a governance policy that respects staff time and improves public trust. When items are brought forward after months of staff work, then repeatedly delayed or shifted without clear direction, everyone loses — staff, applicants, and the public. We owe people a timely decision process with reasons stated in the open.”
Seller: ‘Just very disappointed’
Tashina Knowles, the real-estate agent handling the proposed sale, expressed frustration after the vote. Knowles said that she was looking to sell on behalf of herself and family members who are lifelong residents.
“Our great-great-grandfather was one of the first settlers in Haines City, and he homesteaded that land back in the early 1900s,” Knowles said. “And so we were trying to basically be, I guess, a benefit to the community, versus just going straight into selling it to development — especially because I am in commercial real estate, so I do know the development patterns are still coming, and there’s no slowing.”
Knowles said she owns one-third of one of the smaller parcels in the package.
“Travis’ area is in the northeast district,” Knowles said. “He continuously complains and knows that that district sees the most growth, the most issues, and he does nothing about it. And I was trying to be a solution to a compounding problem with development and bring forth a school site, and Travis, I personally feel like he coaxed the other ones to vote it down.”
Keyes did not respond to a voicemail left April 29.
Noting Allen’s comments about emails she had sent him addressing board members’ questions, Knowles said, “I’m still trying to find where I was in the wrong with doing that.”
Despite raising concerns about the location, Keyes suggested that the district purchase a nearby property, Knowles said. Josh McLemore, the district’s director of planning, determined that the second site was not suitable for construction, Knowles said.
“We determined the site is not suitable for school construction, because county government is planning a road project that will run through the property,” district spokesperson Kyle Kennedy said by email.
The family now expects to sell the property soon for a housing development, Knowles said.
“I’m just very disappointed in our School Board members and the kicking the can down the road onto the next board members in three years that are going to have to deal with children being put in portables,” Knowles said.
Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on X @garywhite13.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: School Board rejects purchase of 93-acre property in northeast Polk
Reporting by Gary White, Lakeland Ledger / The Ledger
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