School Board wonders: What to do with property worth $10.3M?

It’s time to decide what to do with the $10.3 million worth of Key West waterfront property that for decades has been home to office buildings and school buses, the Monroe County School Board said this week.

County property records describe 241 Trumbo Road as about one acre and holding six buildings and valued at more than $10 million.

“The interest in this property is significant,” Pat Lefere, executive director of operations and planning, said at Tuesday’s board meeting in Key West.

Lefere asked the five-man board for direction on an exit plan for the School District, which will likely have to build a new transportation facility to replace the Trumbo Road bus site.

Options abound, board members said: Sell to the highest bidder, lease it out or try to build affordable housing for teachers and other school employees.

“It is a severe crisis,” board member Ed Davidson said of housing, adding that 14 new employees left last year because they couldn’t find an affordable home in the Keys. “You simply cannot build affordable housing in the Florida Keys unless the property is in public ownership. Nobody can build affordable housing if the property cost is in the equation.”

Davidson scoffed at selling Trumbo Road, saying it would be developed to “build condos for rich people,” and the majority of the board seemed to agree.

“Leasing does make the most sense, with a qualified management company,” board member Bobby Highsmith said.

School employees deserve first crack at any housing, Highsmith added. But building teacher housing on Trumbo Road isn’t realistic, said Sandy Higgs, a community activist.

“You can’t do anything in less than eight to 10 years and by then your school district will be in real trouble,” Higgs said, adding the property could be used for a technical career center for students who aren’t attending four-year colleges.

New teachers making $45,000 a year can’t afford much in the Keys, said board member Ron Martin, a former high school principal. “We’ve really got to look at how we compensate people if we want to keep them,” Martin said.

The board meets next at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the media center inside Marathon High School, 350 Sombrero Beach Road, with an agenda that includes the first of three budget hearings.

This story was originally published July 23, 2016 at 9:33 AM with the headline "School Board wonders: What to do with property worth $10.3M?."