EAGLE MOUNTAIN — While landowners and the Alpine School District haggle with a judge over the price of land for a new school, the construction preliminaries are under way.
At a meeting with Eagle Mountain residents Thursday night, district administrators said the landowners will allow them to do soil samples on the school site, along Pony Express Parkway near Unity Pass in the Hidden Valley subdivision.
After soil samples are completed, the district will seek permission from landowners to occupy the site, a legal requirement before they can begin construction on the school, scheduled to open next fall.
Meanwhile, a 4th District judge will help decide the price of land.
"I can't say anything short of desperate," said Jennifer Webb, a district community council representative for the area. "We are desperate for this school."
Eagle Mountain has 20,000 residents and has grown by 4,000 to 5,000 residents a year. Schools in the area, normally built for 850 students, are full.
The new school will open with 500 to 700 students.
Construction on the school was scheduled to begin months ago, but the district encountered a hitch with a proposed site in nearby Cedar Pass Ranch, where residents in the equestrian-friendly subdivision protested.
The district then settled on the Hidden Valley property. Landowners wanted the district to build away from Pony Express Parkway, which is zoned for commercial development. The district wanted flatter land along the road and filed eminent domain and immediate occupancy orders with the court.
The proposed new school will be two stories and will have first- and second-floor doors that Smith said take advantage of slopes in the area.
"If we do get delayed, we have built schools in 10 months," Smith said. "We've done it. We don't like it."
If it takes longer than 10 months to build the school, the district will complete the gymnasium and cafeteria in the main building and haul portable classrooms to the property and open school in the fall, while the rest of the school is finished.
If, after a year or so, enrollment explodes and the district hasn't built any new elementary schools in the area, the district can convert the school to a "productivity model," meaning extended day, which can expand the school to 1,000 students.
If more room is needed, portable classrooms allow for additional students.
E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com