Maricopa Unified School District Governing Board is expected tonight to approve a developer’s donation for a new middle school site.
School board members have been discussing the middle school land acquisition in recent weeks behind closed doors. Such discussions are allowed under the Arizona open meetings law.
The board will also consider approval of future elementary school land adjoining the middle school site, school board agenda documents show.
The school board in 2003 approved the original school site donations for the Amarillo Creek subdivision, off West Papago Road a couple of miles southwest of city limits, but within the school district boundary.
Under the two-decade-old agreement, MUSD has a 10-year option for the school donation sites. In lieu of the land donation, the original agreement states the developer could donate $150 per house zoned for that school. After the 10-year period ends, the donations increase to $1,000 per rooftop, school district officials said.
Palomino Ranch was master planned with Amarillo Creek and included a joint donation site for a middle school, school officials said.
The schools would be on about 24 acres. The agreement designates 13 acres for the middle school adjacent to the northwest corner of the Marino Road and Hawkweed Lane, a document shows. The elementary school site of about 11 acres is adjacent to the northeast corner of the Amarillo Creek Parkway and Coltsfoot Road.
