Schools could see growth in Highway 100 expansion

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Cedar Rapids Community School District could see enrollment growth and build two new schools in the coming years because of possible development around the Highway 100 extension, Superintendent Dave Benson said Wednesday.

The district's enrollment dropped significantly after the flood of 2008 and has decreased slightly since then. But Benson, whose last day before he retires is June 22, has been optimistic about future growth.

'I believe that with the Highway 100 extension going in, the district will grow,” he said.

The highway project, scheduled to be completed in 2020, will extend Highway 100 west and then south, connecting it to Highway 30.

In anticipation of possible development around that route, the district in 2011 purchased a 37-acre property at the corner of 80th Street SW and Worcester Road.

That would be big enough for an elementary school and a middle school, Benson said.

'But that doesn't necessarily mean both will go on there,” he added. The district could sell part of that property and buy a different parcel to build one of the possible schools, Benson said.

Owning land near the highway expansion route 'gives us skin in the game,” Benson said. The district now rents the lot out for farming, he said.

The district also got a better price on the land by purchasing it years in advance, said Scott Olson, a Cedar Rapids City Council member and Realtor who served as a consultant to the district for the purchase.

'Oh, by far,” Olson said. 'And they got the right location.”

Benson said a timeline for the possible new schools would depend on infrastructure and economic conditions.

Keith Westercamp, a Cedar Rapids School Board member, said the district wouldn't jump into building a new school.

'We've got to look at everything before we make any commitments like that,” he said.

The district will have enough money to build new schools through the school infrastructure local option tax that passed in 2007, Benson said. He added that he has not set aside any of that money to build any schools.

The topography of the land around the planned Highway 100 route makes it good for development, said Seth Gunnerson, a planner for the city of Cedar Rapids.

'It's a lot easier for us to have storm sewer systems and sanitary sewer systems if they flow downhill,” he said.

That development's impact on Cedar Rapids schools' demographics depends on the types of housing built, Benson said. The land around the district's property is designated primarily for low- or medium-intensity neighborhoods, according to the city's future use land map, part of the EnvisionCR plan passed in January.

Low-intensity neighborhoods consist primarily of single-family homes, Gunnerson said. Medium-intensity neighborhoods could include apartments or single-family homes, he said.

The northern part of the district also could grow in the coming years with possible development near Tower Terrace Road, Benson said.

'The intensity of the development up there may warrant a future elementary school,” he said. 'We just don't know yet.”

But the district is fortunate to have room to grow, Benson and Westercamp said.

'Most urban districts are completely cut off,” Benson said. 'We are advantaged, and I am very optimistic about the future of Cedar Rapids.”

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