ROSEMOUNT, MN — In an effort to keep up with growing numbers, the District 196 School Board recently authorized the administration to sign a letter of intent to purchase land in Rosemount for a future elementary school.

The 34.4-acre piece of land is located is located at the southwest corner of the Bonaire Path and Akron Avenue intersection, east of Highway 3 and north of County Road 42. The land is owned by Rosemount Farms Joint Ownership Group.

"District 196 enrollment grew by nearly 500 students this year, to almost 29,000," the district said in a news release.

"And in October, demographic consultant Hazel Reinhardt told the board that district enrollment could grow another 15 percent over the next 10 years, to almost 34,000 students. Based on conversations with city planners, Reinhardt said the district could have as many as 1,300 new, single-family detached homes in the next three years." The bulk of the new development will take place in Lakeville and Rosemount, including the 4,800-acre UMore Park property that the University of Minnesota has begun to sell to developers. The land being purchased by the district is located directly north of UMore Park.



"I want to thank the administration for getting a jump on this, as opposed to trying to buy land after development is going on, so I think this will save our taxpayers money," said Vice Chairperson Joel Albright in a statement. "This is not a guarantee we are going to put a school there, it is speculative and hopefully it will save us money. But if it turns out that's not the place for us, we can always turn around and resell the land."



The land will be purchased with funds remaining from the bond referendum that was approved by district voters in November 2015.

