What Will Bristol Twp. School District Do With 7 Empty Schools?

Bristol Township School District is moving along in their process to streamline nine aging elementary schools into three state-of-the-art buildings.

The $152 million dollar project will provide room for the estimated 700 additional children who will attend Bristol Township schools by 2020, according to Superintendent Dr. Samuel Lee.

“These kids will have amenities, not over the top amenities, just things that are required to bring our mission forward,” said Lee at a Redevelopment/Building Repurposing meeting Thursday night.

While construction continues on the buildings, the question has become, what will the district choose to do with seven vacant properties? Those seven vacant properties will include six elementary schools and the site of Franklin D. Roosevelt Middle School at 1001 Veterans Highway in Bristol.

Construction on the brand new, 1,300-student buildings at the sites of Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary School on Mill Creek Road and James Buchanan Elementary School on Haines Road in Levittown is expected to complete in September 2015. The 1,300 student school at the site of Mary Devine Elementary School in Croydon is expected to wrap up in September 2016.

In late October, the BTSB approved a $19,000 feasibility study with the Schrader Group to look at possible uses for the soon to be abandoned schools – this also gave the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority license to suggest options. Read more here.

Options for the empty properties could include selling or leasing the property, repurposing the property under district ownership or turning the area into open space.

On Thursday night, district officials as well as selected members from the community met steps away from the construction site on Mill Creek Road to throw out suggestions.

One site, which has not been determined yet, will house the district’s offices. That determination will come after results from a study are released sometime next week. The board since 2012, has proposed that Clara Barton Elementary could be that location. Barton will provide the district with over 59,000 square-feet and 20 acres of district land central to the community.

One community member suggested housing the district buses in one of the abandoned lots, which could cut the cost the district pays to lease a property now. While the district does lease a property, they are refunded for that cost through their transportation contract, board Vice President Earl Bruck said.

Another community member and former teacher said a Planet Fitness at one of the locations could help relieve the traffic at the Middletown gym.

The board will have a lot of options to consider as some schools remain “locked” in Levittown-style sections, and don’t provide an optimal area for a commercialized business, said Bob White of the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority. It is not certain of the school board whether any of the lots could be monetized with a open space grant.

The school board is expected to meet with community members as well as representatives from the Schrader Group and the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority on several occasions before making any decisions. The board has selected to meet on the second Wednesday of the month, their next meeting will be held February 11 at 6 p.m. in the district administration building at 6401 Mill Creek Road in Levittown.