Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is moving forward with plans to add an elementary school to the Mint Hill Middle School campus.
Dennis LaCaria, on behalf of the school board, has presented the 2017 bond project to Mint Hill commissioners and planning board members. CMS needs rezoning approval from commissioners.
“When we bought the middle school site, we had every intention of siting an elementary school here sometime in the future,” LaCaria told the planning board Nov. 16. “It’s taken a little while but the future has caught up to us and we find ourselves needing these seats.”
The building will consist of 45 classrooms, which is six more than elementary schools constructed from earlier bonds. While the attendance boundary will be determined at a later time, the school will ease overcrowding at Bain, Lebanon Road and Piney Grove elementary schools.
It will also provide more vehicle stacking, allowing for less traffic spilling over onto Idlewild Road during drop-off and pick-up. That’s because each school will operate under a different bell schedule, allowing both schools to be used for drop-off and pick-up.
“Being able to flex those lots and have cars be able to make use of stacking has been very beneficial,” LaCaria said of CMS’s existing shared campuses. “It’s also helped us a great deal relative to shared bus lots where we’re having less impervious surface and having less of an impact on the environment.”
The project is scheduled for construction in early 2021 and opening in August 2022.
During construction, the elementary school site will be fenced off with construction traffic not interfering with drop-off or pick-up times.
Commissioners Mike Cochrane and Dale Dalton expressed appreciation for the way the plan keeps traffic off the road. Mayor Brad Simmons added, “Mint Hill is looking forward to it.”
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