FREEPORT — Crystal Beach Development, a company owned by Jay Odom, has announced that it will donate 30 acres in the Hammock Bay development to the Walton County School District.
The district will have 15 years to use the land before it reverts to Crystal Beach Development, and schools Superintendent Carlene Anderson said planning already is underway to fit the property into the district’s five-year capital outlay plan.
“Freeport is growing,” Anderson said. “It’s quite possible we could use this land in the next 15 years.”
Anderson said the district tends not to like large elementary schools, and from what she sees the recommended use for the Hammock Bay property would be for a new elementary school.
There is presently one elementary school, one middle school and one high school in Freeport. The elementary school has 560 students, the middle school has 434 students and the high school has 341.
Anderson said the donated land is adjacent to the Freeport Regional Sports Complex in Hammock Bay.
“That’s by design so students will have access to the athletic fields,” she said.
The new school, as all others, will be open to students throughout the county, Anderson said
While other school districts have been forced to close schools or consolidate in recent years, Anderson said Walton County has continued to grow in her nine years in office.
“Our school district is booming. We’ve opened three new schools and expanded others,” she said.
Contact Daily News Staff Writer Tom McLaughlin at 850-315-4435 or tmclaughlin@nwfdailynews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomMnwfdn.