By Suzanne Sprague, KERA 90.1 reporter
Dallas, TX – Suzanne Sprague, KERA 90.1 reporter: The classrooms of North Oak Cliff are so overcrowded that it will take five new schools to relieve the strain. Over the past three years, DISD has found sites for all of them, except one - an elementary school that needs about ten acres of land. Trustee Rafael Anchia:
Rafael Anchia, Dallas Independent School District Trustee: And as you might imagine, with the scarcity of vacant land or eligible land that we might put together to make 10 acres, we were left with very, very few options.
Sprague: Early on, DISD tagged a 19-acre plot of prairie-style land known as "Twelve Hills" as a possible school site. The city, county and school district jointly own the property, near Hampton and Davis streets. Anchia says it's been an attractive option because it doesn't have any buildings that would require condemnation.
Anchia: As a municipal entity, we want to make condemnations a last resort because it disrupts people's lives, number one, and secondarily it is a more expensive way of acquiring land so we want to responsive and responsible to the taxpayer.
Sprague: But a group of North Oak Cliff residents opposed to the traffic and noise a school would bring has been working on an alternate plan for Twelve Hills.
Jennifer Barrash, Resident: Along the way there will be nature trails with educational signposts, bird watching blinds...
Sprague: Resident Jennifer Barrash has led the charge to turn Twelve Hills into an environmental education center. When the center's supporters first organized, DISD took Twelve Hills off the table. But now, after an exhaustive search, the property appears to be the school district's best option.
Barrash: It's kind of gone back and forth over the last three years.
Sprague: Normally, residents fighting new construction would turn to their city councilperson to champion their cause. But Barrash and fellow nature center supporter Monica Peterson are frustrated because later this month, North Oak Cliff will get its third city council member in two years.
Monica Peterson: Each time we have a transition we have to start over with an explanation and sort of reprove the level of support and reprove that there's a lot of value there.
Sprague: Nature center advocates are losing a sympathetic ear in Councilman Mark Housewright, who was defeated by Ed Oakley in last month's election. Oakley has close ties to DISD.
Ed Oakley, Dallas City Councilman: So I'm very sympathetic to the needs of the district and so I'm hoping to bring that kind of knowledge to this and we'll come up with some sort of solution. I don't exactly know what the outcome is going to be.
Sprague: Jennifer Barrash says given this political uncertainly, it will be a testament to her group's perseverance if the plan for the nature center works out.
Barrash: If it doesn't, well, then we'll have a lot more to say about what it's like to be kind of a political tennis ball, which is little bit how we've felt.
Sprague: Trustee Rafael Anchia says the future of Twelve Hills is up in the air because not all of the residents near the property agree with the nature center plan. Some would like their children to attend a brand new school in their neighborhood. But nature center supporters are continuing to organize and lobby the school board and city council. It may be possible for both an elementary school and a smaller nature center to co-exist at the site. Tuesday night, all the parties will meet at Rosemont Elementary School, near Twelve Hills, to discuss what will happen next. For KERA 90.1, I'm Suzanne Sprague.
Email Suzanne Sprague about this story.