BRADENTON — A site plan for the development of a new Manatee County high school squeaked by the county commission on Tuesday, receiving a narrow approval with just a one-vote majority. Manatee School Board Chairman Chad Choate addressed commissioners during Tuesday’s hearing to advocate on behalf of the school district’s plan.
For now, the future school facility has been dubbed "High School AAA" until it receives its official name. After receiving the county commission’s approval on Tuesday, the new school will be constructed on a roughly 85-acre parcel located at the corner of Rangeland Parkway and Post Boulevard in Lakewood Ranch.
The high school, which will be the county's eighth public high school, will be just over 297,000 square feet upon completion. It will accommodate 2,500 students in multiple classroom buildings, with plans including an auditorium, media center, gymnasium, and athletic facilities.
After the school board approved the high school plans back in August, the site plan was forwarded to the county government’s development services department for review, then to the county commissioners for final approval.
But some commissioners expressed concerns with the plan on Tuesday.
Lakewood Ranch’s District 5 Commissioner Bob McCann questioned the project’s potential traffic impacts to an area that is already home to the county’s still-growing Premier Sports Complex.
McCann wasn’t alone in his infrastructure-related concerns, as Commissioners Jason Bearden and Carol Felts expressed similar reservations when they weighed in on the site plan proposal.
Adding to their shared concerns about increased traffic, Bearden pointed to the commissioners’ vote just months earlier to defer the Lorraine Road expansion due to budget considerations and a decision to prioritize smaller, less financially intensive projects.
The Lorraine Road project, which was once a county priority and an original part of the county's "Big Six" Capital Improvement Road projects, may now be deferred until after 2030. The vote to postpone the project passed 6-1, with only McCann voting in opposition.
Other commissioners, however, argued that the students who would attend the new high school would not be a “new” increase in traffic on the area roadways because those students already attend the over-capacity Lakewood Ranch High School, which requires many of them to travel further to get to.
Capacity data shows Lakewood Ranch High School is over capacity at 105%, with an anticipated population spike in the area that is only expected to make things worse for the school.
School Board Chairman Chad Choate addressed commissioners’ concerns ahead of the vote, reminding them that the proposed AAA High School site location has been part of the five-year schools plan for all five years.
Choate further offered that the school board had been openly discussing the project at board meetings and advancing its planning over the last year and a half. In addition, said Choate, the district is actively engaged in rezoning school attendance districts to account for new schools that will open in the future.
“We are already at a crunch time to build this,” Choate said. “We’re beyond needing it. We’re over 100 percent capacity in the high schools where these high school students are being housed now.”
Choate added that while he appreciated some of the commissioners’ concerns regarding traffic and safety for students and citizens, he is confident that the majority of students, roughly 70% or more, would be districted to the school from the surrounding communities and residences.
“Kids are going to be able to walk and ride their bikes… everyone west of Lorraine Road won’t be attending here,” Choate reassured. “These students who would be districted to attend this school are currently going past this school site to attend Lakewood Ranch High or Parrish High School.”
Choate suggested that having hundreds of students travel farther actually created greater traffic concerns than opening a high school closer to their neighborhoods and residences.
Separate from the discussion regarding roadway suitability and traffic, Commissioner Tal Siddique saw the High School’s site plan application as an opportunity to re-raise the issue of a school district-county interlocal agreement that might provide for public use of school athletic and recreational facilities.
The idea has been proposed on multiple occasions over the years, with both school board members and commissioners seeming open to such an arrangement. Still, concerns over liability and maintenance have never been resolved, preventing the plan from coming to fruition.
Following Siddique’s raising the subject, Choate offered to revisit discussions on such an interlocal agreement.
Once board deliberations concluded, the district’s proposed site plan for the AAA High School was moved to a vote, where it was approved 4-3.
Commissioners Amanda Ballard, Mike Rahn, George Kruse, and Siddique voted in favor, and McCann, Bearden, and Felts, who said they preferred to see additional explorations of options, voted against approval.
According to the county attorney, had the site plan been denied, the school district would have needed to restart the application process, which could have led to delays that may have pushed into next year.
The district currently projects that the new high school will open its doors to students at the start of the 2027-2028 school year. The final proposed rezoning maps for the School District of Manatee County factor in the school’s opening.
On Monday, district officials sent an email to students and families encouraging them to explore the proposed districting maps and provide input before the school board’s scheduled vote on final approval and adoption of the rezoning in early December.
The district’s rezoning process is intended to help balance school populations in response to the county’s continued community growth. The process focuses on updating the residential attendance zones for the 2026–2027 school year at elementary and middle schools, and for the 2027-2028 school year at high schools.
The proposed rezoning maps are available for review on the school district’s website at www.manateeschools.net/rezoningprocess.
The district also announced three public meetings where residents can review proposed maps, ask questions, and share their feedback on the proposed rezoning of the school district.
School District Rezoning Public Meetings:
Monday, November 17, 2025
Braden River High, 6545 State Road 70 E.
6:30-8:00 p.m.
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
Lakewood Ranch High, 5500 Lakewood Ranch Blvd.
6:30-8:00 p.m.
Thursday, November 20, 2025
Parrish Community High, 7505 Fort Hamer Road
6:30-8:00 p.m.
To replay the November 4, 2025, BOCC meeting presentation and discussion on the Manatee County School District's proposed AAA High School site plan, click the videos below. Commissioners' discussion of the item ran beyond the scheduled lunch recess, breaking at the end of the meeting's morning session and resuming after lunch.
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serenowens
Duh! High school kids are going to be driving to school in their cars. This alone will create traffic problems!
Wednesday, November 5, 2025 Report this
mforeman
The BOCC has known about the plan for a high school at that location for years. In fact, they dumped hurricane debris on it after two storms. Instead, they are prioritizing trails and sidewalks.
Wednesday, November 5, 2025 Report this
Kelly
The present "over crowding emergency" is the school boards own damn fault. For the past 15 years or more, the board has been telling the county commissioners that the county has plenty of student capacity. At every rezoning hearing for housing developments, the school board said to bring it on. Now the schools are over crowded- big surprise. Hold the school board accountable now so we don't overdevelop in the next 15 years.
Saturday, November 8, 2025 Report this