Developer asks for slice of school land for road

FARMINGTON — A developer who wants to build houses behind Folsom Elementary School asked about getting one-half acre of school property to build a road.

Mark Marquess with Riverwood Homes and Geoffrey Bates, project engineer with Bates and Associates, made the request Nov. 19 at Farmington’s School Board meeting.

Marquess is proposing a development called The Grove at Engle’s Mill, which would be built in several phases. His request to have the land zoned for the development hasn’t been approved by the Planning Commission nor the City Council.

Bates said the city is requiring a second access into phase one of the proposed subdivision. Phase one would have 76 single-family lots and be east of Folsom and behind Countryside Drive and Briar Hill Street.

The new street would go from Grace Lane across the northern length of the school property to connect to the subdivision. The street would tie into Angus Lane.

School Board member Jeff Oxford asked why Angus Lane couldn’t be used as the second access. Bates said the city thought Angus Lane, which is a narrow street, wouldn’t be able to handle the increased traffic.

Bates said the new street would help Folsom because it would provide another way for parents to get to the school, other than turning onto Grace Lane from West Main Street.

Bryan Law, superintendent of schools, said Folsom already has a lot of traffic in the mornings and afternoons and development in the area is going to add to it.

Marquess and Law discussed ways the developer could help the school in lieu of paying money for the land. Marquess said he would be interested in dedicating a nearby portion of wooded area as a park for the elementary school.

Law said the school needs a better, decorative fence behind the playground. Another idea, Law said, is to install a parking or turnaround area off the new street that could be used as another place to dismiss Folsom students.

Marquess said he thought all those were possibilities and asked the school to decide which options it wanted.

Bates asked School Board members if they were open to the idea of giving the land to the developer for the street. He said he needed to know so he could continue with the subdivision’s preliminary plat, which will probably go to the Planning Commission in December.

Oxford said he believed the school and developer could come to an agreement.