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Based on the following criteria provided to our committee from the Simpson County School Board regarding the Magee Elementary School Site, we conducted a search of potential sites for consideration:
- Property must be within the current boundaries of the City of Magee
- Property must have access to city water and sewer sufficient to meet the needs of the facility
- Property must have access to public streets
- Property must allow for adequate ingress and egress for school traffic
- Property must be of a sufficient size to accommodate the proposed building and improvements and allow room for additional expansion (minimum of 17-20 acres)
- Consideration should be given to and safety issues or concerns that may exist
We obtained a current map of the City of Magee and identified five sites that met the criteria outlined above. A spreadsheet was created listing each site and an evaluation was conducted based on the following:
- Acreage available for development
- Land acquisition cost/barrier to acquisition
- Access to utilities, including water, sewer and electrical
- Access to public roads (egress/ingress)
- Topography and related cost of site preparation
- Environmental, safety and security considerations
- Strategic fit in consideration of immediate and long term needs of district and surrounding future development
- Proximity to existing school facilities
- Ability to enhance community and economic development
- Long term site/property maintenance cost
Meetings were held with representatives form the City of Magee to discuss these sites in more detail and to determine any barriers that may prevent any of these sites from being considered. After a lengthy discussion, it was determined that two of the five sites were not suitable for further consideration, which reduced the list of sites to be considered to three. Two of the tree sites are privately owned and one is owned/ controlled by the Simpson County Development District.
Discussions by representatives of the Advisory Committee were held with the private land owners which resulted in one of the sites being eliminated from consideration, leaving two sites to be considered further.
A more thorough analysis was conducted on the two remaining sites where more specific consideration was given to the following:
- Traffic flow
- Safety concerns related to the school and the public
- Cost to develop the site
- Cost to provide access to electricity, water and sewer
- Issues related to access (ingress/egress)
- Available property for future expansion
- Proximity to existing school facilities
After conducting a more in depth evaluation of the two remaining sites, it was determined that both sites would be a suitable location for the new Magee Elementary School. Based on this, we have prepared a comparison of the two sites for consideration by the School Board for review. It is our opinion that, based on this information, the School Board should be in a position to select the best site as the new location for the Magee Elementary School.
Respectfully submitted,
Magee Elementary School Site Advisory Committee
Robbie Barnes, Chairman
Darnell Moffett
Stan Bulger
Patrick Brown
Dr. Dwayne Middleton
Dennis Ammann
Doris Perkins
Glenn Harris
