Brickworks developer willing to consider school site
Sep. 14—The company developing the Brickworks project on Frederick's east side is willing to provide a site for a school on the property — but less land than Frederick County Public Schools normally prefers.
The firm, Greenberg Gibbons, would consider a site for an elementary school in its plans for the development of the Brickworks property, CEO Brian Gibbons wrote in an email to The Frederick News-Post on Tuesday.
The project would build up to 1,260 residential units and up to 130,000 square feet of retail space on nearly 65 acres at the former Frederick Brick Works site bordered by East Street, South Street and Monocacy Boulevard.
In an Aug. 14 letter to the Planning Commission included in the information for a meeting Monday, Frederick County Public Schools Chief Operating Officer Paul Lebo cited concerns about the amount of development planned on the city's east side. He asked that the commission require that a site for a school be required in the project's master plan.
The project especially highlights capacity concerns in the feeder pattern for Spring Ridge Elementary and Gov. Thomas Johnson middle and high schools, where students living in the Brickworks project would attend.
As of April, there were 2,200 units approved but still unbuilt within the Spring Ridge Elementary area, including 1,700 in the city, Lebo wrote to the Planning Commission.
There are also an additional 600 unbuilt units in the T.J. Middle feeder area, which are expected to produce more than 160 new middle school students.
The school system usually seeks about 15 acres for an elementary school site, Lebo said in an interview Tuesday.
But that number could be lower if things such as stormwater management facilities and forest resource issues are handled as part of the overall development rather than on the school property.
Brian Gibbons wrote that 15 acres would probably be too large for his company to accommodate.
"I think any school would have to be a bit more urban in size and layout," he wrote.
The current zoning for the property doesn't allow for a school, but "I think we could work collaboratively with the city to see if it is possible," he wrote.
Deciding how large a parcel would be needed would require more specific information on the project than is currently available, Lebo wrote in a follow-up email Thursday.
The Brickworks master plan calls for 900 multi-family units and 360 townhomes, a mix that Lebo said has more multi-family units than developments in the Spring Ridge feeder pattern usually have.
The density is more typical of the feeder for Waverley Elementary and Monocacy Middle schools, he said.
The pupil yield rates in FCPS's facilities master plan for Spring Ridge is .04 students generated per housing unit, while the rate for Waverley is .26 students, Lebo said.
With so many of the planned Brickworks units being multi-family, "an inaccuracy in expected pupil yields could have a significant impact on the capacity of Spring Ridge Elementary and Governor Thomas Johnson Middle schools," Lebo wrote in his letter to the Planning Commission.
The questions come as FCPS struggles to deal with increased growth in the county.
Aside from the Brickworks site, Lebo said, the school system is also looking for another elementary school site in the eastern part of the city or county.
But even that wouldn't address all of the enrollment issues in that area, Lebo told a meeting of state and local officials Monday night.
"That school, even if we built it tomorrow, will not meet our needs over the next five years. We will need yet another elementary school in the eastern portion of the county," he said.
Staff writer Jillian Atelsek contributed to this story.
Follow Ryan Marshall on Twitter: @RMarshallFNP
