ST. CLOUD, Fla. – As some districts in Central Florida consider closing schools, Osceola County is set to build a new K-8 school in St. Cloud.
The school will be located in the middle of a new subdivision.
The new subdivision, Triple H Ranch, is coming to St. Cloud off Hickory Tree Road. It will include 787 single-family homes and 278 townhomes. The county board of commissioners approved the subdivision about a year ago and recently approved an agreement between the developer and the School District of Osceola County (SDOC) to bring a school to the area.
The agreement allows the developer to sell the future K-8 school site to the school district in exchange for school impact fee credits.
“The School Impact Fee Credits will be submitted to the County in place of cash payment for School Impact Fees that would have otherwise been paid directly to the County. While the agreement has various portions concerning the developer and the SDOC, the County’s only role in this agreement is to ensure we do not give more credits than should be earned,” a county spokesperson told News 6.
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The Osceola County School District told News 6 that, based on its long-term projections, it will require a school site once the development comes online.
“This is normal practice and in line with our long-range planning. We mitigate the sites based on our historical enrollment projections and the number of homes to be built in the area,” Dana Schafer said.
“Even with the decline in enrollment recently, Osceola County is expected to experience significant growth in the next decade, driven by a combination of population increase, economic diversification, and development projects. The county’s population is expected to double by 2040 with significant growth over the next 5 to 10 years.”
Schafer also said the district is strategically acquiring properties in anticipation of this growth so it can build schools in areas as needed.
The subdivision will be right off Hickory Tree Road, which currently is only a two-lane road. The addition of many new homes and a school has raised concerns about increased traffic congestion.
Cody Beasley, a resident living nearby, expressed worries about traffic.
“We’re on the outskirts [of town], like Old Hickory Tree, right? And going back into town and then going to Irlo Bronson — 192 — that’s just a whole other nightmare,” he said.
Beasley feels that better infrastructure, such as widening the road to four lanes, would help alleviate traffic problems.
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“[It] would definitely help out, you know, with school traffic, coming home traffic,” he said.
While excited about having a school closer to home for his family, Beasley acknowledged the impact on traffic in an already crowded area.
“We’re coming from Virginia, and then we were from L.A. So even that, I’m like L.A. traffic, everybody [says it’s] a nightmare, but they haven’t been to Florida yet,” Beasley added.
The Osceola School District is also set to open a new high school on Nova Road next year, about 15 minutes from this subdivision. The district says these new schools will help meet the demands of the growing neighborhoods in St. Cloud.