CHARLESTON — A new school should be built on a city-owned 17-acre strip of land on Staten Island's South Shore, the area's representatives said.
Borough President James Oddo and Councilman Joe Borelli wrote a letter to the Economic Development Corporation asking it to use the land in the Charleston Mixed-Use Development site to build a middle and high school complex.
"It is clear that we have a desperate need for new school seats, particularly at the high school and middle school level, and this site should be used to meet those needs," Oddo said in a statement.
"The fact is that this parcel represents the last large parcel of city-owned property on the South Shore, which means we will not get this opportunity again."
The current plans for the 80-acre site — near the Bricktown Shopping Center and a proposed library — calls for a kindergarten through eighth-grade public school, senior housing, the planned Fairview Park and two retail sites. The plan also preserves about 25 acres of the site.
Oddo and Borelli proposed that the EDC scrap the kindergarten and senior housing and build the school complex instead.
"We are reviewing the letter with our colleagues at the School Construction Authority and will be following up with the offices of the Borough President and Council Member," said Ryan Birchmeier, spokesman for the EDC in a statement.
When originally proposed, the Charleston Mixed-Use Development site included a promised 16-acre school. In 2012, the plan shrank to be a kindergarten half its original size despite complaints from residents.
"The education component of this property was a commitment the city made when beginning the development here," Borelli said in a statement.
"We have the opportunity to expand and improve educational opportunities for the future, and I hope we don't let it pass by."
In their letter, Oddo and Borelli wrote that the South Shore's middle and high schools are almost at capacity and the utilization rates for the district was at 108 percent.
