GULF SHORES, AL - Why is there such urgency from some advocates on the island to get a on a Special Tax District vote to levy 3 mills for new schools buildings?

Because schools are already overcrowded in the face of burgeoning growth, Education Advisory Task Force leader Kevin Corcoran said.

Gulf Shores Elementary was built to house 690 students, but there were 1,037 there during 2015-16. There are 11 portable classrooms crowding its parking lot.

Orange Beach Elementary had 455 students enrolled in the last school year and has a capacity of 525.

At Gulf Shores Middle 421 students attended classes in a building made for 400. Gulf Shores High School had 849 students in a building designed to house 760.

The preliminary plan is to build a state-of-the-art high school on County Road 8 on land donated to Gulf Shores by the Craft family. The middle school would then move into a renovated site vacated by Gulf Shores High School and the elementary would expand into Gulf Shores Middle were renovations would also be made.

Orange Beach Elementary would be upgraded and possibly have classrooms added to accommodate growth in that city. If future growth requires a second middle school, Orange Beach would be the site. There are currently only 113 middle school students in Orange Beach.

And, Corcoran, a Realtor by trade said, growth is coming.

“These growth projections are understated right now,” he said. “Gulf Shores pulled more than 150 residential building permits in calendar 2015. Through the first week of July we are already at 137. There’s a good chance we are going to pull 100 more building permits than we did last year.

“The majority of those are D.R. Horton four- and five-bedroom homes. Those are not snowbirds, those are not retirees. They have children and are going to send them to school.”

Horton has a request before the city for a site plan approval for 39 more residential lots in Phase 5 of Craft Farms North off County Road 8.

Permits have also been issued this year for 10 six-unit apartment complexes to be built on Oak Road West in the city.

In Orange Beach 42 building permits have been issued for single family residences and while that number may seem a little modest there are three subdivisions with preliminary approvals to build 118 more houses.