Plans for New Oxford Elementary, Fine Arts building Approved

By Alyssa Schnugg
News Editor
alyssa.schnugg@hottytoddy.com

A rendering of the future Oxford Elementary School.

Plans for new Oxford Elementary are ago after receiving approval from the Oxford Planning Commission Monday night.

The commission approved the new school’s site plan, along with a variance from the normally required 50-foot buffer since a school has been located on the site for many years and granted a special exception to allow the new school to be three stories.

The new school will be about 89,400-square feet, will hold classes for first and second grades and will be built just west of Oxford Intermediate School.

Commissioners said they were still concerned about how traffic will flow with the two schools being so close.

Proposed traffic flow at OIS and the future OE.
Provided by Oxford Public Works

Given the possibility of traffic interfering with the normal and safe operation of Jackson Avenue or the intersection of Jefferson and Martin Luther King, staff recommended conditions requiring additional or alternate queue patterns within the school site itself, either in the parking lot of the Intermediate School or along Washington and 5th Streets.

According to City Engineer Reanna Mayoral, the school agreed to make modifications to the original plan to allow the sixth-grade drop-off to remain along Washington in the same pattern as currently exists. The Board of Alderman voted on Oct. 16 to quit claim North 5th Street to the school with a reversionary clause based on conditions of use.

The proposal for school drop off and pick up for the new school will be via North Fifth Street, which is accessed from Jackson Avenue. Parents wanting to pick up or drop off at the Intermediate School are stacking along Martin Luther King and Washington.

The Intermediate School and the new elementary school will have different start and stop times once the new school is complete. OIS will start at 8:20, like the middle and high school, and OE will start at 7:40 a.m. Currently, the intermediate school starts at 7:35 a.m.

Demolition of the old school building, once known as Central Elementary will begin on Wednesday. Construction is expected to take about a year for the new school.

The Planning Commission also approved the site plan for the new 40-000 square foot Fine Arts building that will be located on the campus of the Oxford High School. 

Commissioner Duncan Gray recused himself from voting on the Oxford School District agenda items due to his employment with the district.