Giant Billboards were installed today announcing "The Grove," what appears to be a 1 sq mile residential and commercial development surrounding the future site of the fourth Deer Creek elementary school. This is the square mile between Portland(SH 74), May, 178th (2nd st), and 192nd (Danforth).

I don't have any details (I just looked online but couldn't find any) because all I saw were the billboards, which did have land use plans on them. I will look closer at the signs for a website or more information.

Interestingly, it seems that the developer has also put up a billboard that announces the location of Deer Creek's newest planned elementary school- land that was DONATED to the school district (my guess is by the developer of this project!).

What's the name of Deek Creek's newest elementary school? I could do an archive search in the Oke while I'm at my office, and see who donated the land... or further more maybe the county assessor's site will show something.

Make sure you take pics if there are graphics. That would be really interesting.

The new school doesn't have a name yet, as far as I know, but I think architectural plans are underway or complete. The fourth elementary will push our elementary capacity to 2,000 students, but our middle school capacity is about 800, and high school currently the same. A new middle school is also in planning though, and the high school will be expanded to 1,200 capacity beginning this fall.

Anyway, back to the development:

A post from DCS Post, a blog/soapbox at http://dcspost.com.

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Local Builder Donates Land for School >>
May 11, 2006
As you travel through the district you can’t help but notice the amount of construction. What may not be as obvious is the financial support local builders are giving back to the school district.


Turner & Company have donated over $36,000 from two of their developments. Schafer Development Company has donated over $40,000 from their development. Recently, Caliber Development has donated 13+ acres of land for a fourth elementary school.


All of these generous donations help continue the tradition of excellence for the students of Deer Creek. We can’t thank these companies enough for their continued support of the school district.

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I searched for Caliber Development's recent land purchases (couldn't find a website for the company) and found that they recently purchased 80 acres at 192nd and May. I think this was only a small piece of their total purchases in the area, because I'm sure they own at least the entire stretch of 192nd between May and Portland. They're definitely the ones developing The Grove.

Maybe more information will be picked up by the press in the next week or so since they've only just put up the signs on the property.

So will this be more apartments and fancy retail?

Don't know about apartments yet. That would REALLY strain our district's population.

And it won't be more for Deer Creek- it'll be the FIRST major retail/commercial project in the district. Meaning a potentially big boost in tax revenues to the school.

Same as if it were apartments. More tax base means more money but more strain, if you don't keep up. Deer Creek better keep up.

Residential tax base is not much to support a school. To really do well (without relying on the community support that drives our school), we need that commercial base, and we just don't have that, except on the fringes of our district that are in OKC and Edmond city limits.

I looked closer at the sign, and I can confirm that both office space and retail will be part of The Grove. It says "Coming 2007" and they are already platting streets and lots in the northeast corner of the property.

What do the renderings look like on the sign?

There are not renderings- just a land use plan. There are lakes/ponds, and what appears to be residential (single-family, according to the sign) in the center of the square mile, and commercial (represented by two or three shades of yellow) along the outside of the square mile. The commercial plots are very large, so we're probably talking big box or strip mall, maybe office park- this area is just a few miles north of the office hotspot at Memorial and LKHefner Pkwy, so I wouldn't be surprised to see some pretty good-sized office buildings.

Even if it's single family housing and not apartments it's still a very awesome step in the right direction for Deer Creek, considering how low-density that area is.

They will probably be higher income if that's the case.

We don't know how dense the single family units will be... And really, the density of several single family developments in Deer Creek is quite high. Furthermore, the area is not so much "low density" as it is rural. Since the area isn't even autonomous and has no way of regulating things for itself, development will depend on Oklahoma and Logan Counties, city of Edmond, and city of OKC ordinances to determine the type of development that will occur. The zig-zagging political lines throughout the Deer Creek school district will lead to fractured, inconsistent development.

The good thing, once again, about this for the Deer Creek area is the commercial factor. We have tons of residential development of all kinds from mansions to small cottages to rural estates and homesteads, so this is likely nothing special in that regard. But heavy commercial activity would be something new. In rural Deer Creek- portions north of 164 and west of Western, all we have is the Deer Creek Store across from the school, a recently built Shell, Sonic, and newly opened Dollar General at 178 and Portland (the latter three are developed by Sam Coury, who I believe has known about this development for some time). This project will bring not just retail but OFFICES, unheard of in Deer Creek proper.