St. Mary's Schools Buy 55 Acres in Wildewood Area

Then, Dec. 20, at their last meeting of the year, the commissioners debated an amendment that would allow the school to connect to the public water and sewer system. The change was rejected on three votes before squeaking by 3 to 2 during a previously unscheduled executive session.

Two days later, school officials bought the land. Closing the deal by the end of the year was crucial, officials said, because the contract included a $100,000 discount for settling before the new year. As part of the deal, the system also will pay $300,000 to extend Wildewood Parkway to the school site.

Meanwhile, the system is moving to finalize acquisition of two other sites: one on St. Andrews Church Road near the intersection with Brown Road and another along Route 5 in Leonardtown near the Clark's Rest development.

Sites in California and Leonardtown are especially important, school officials said, because county planning policies are funneling much of the county's residential growth to the two development districts in those areas.

About 300 elementary students are in the Wildewood area, Clements said. "Once the elementary school is built, we could already fill it with students."

The school system has retained an architect, and design work for the school will start next month. The school system also has plans to build another school on the Wildewood property -- either a middle school or a facility for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and first-grade classes.

And school officials will continue searching for more places to build.

"We have ongoing negotiations with at least three other sites," Clements said. "We're hoping to gather a bank of sites for the future. With the growth in the county, we want to have a bank ready for the next 25 or so years."