Wayzata school officials said Wednesday that they hope to have a purchase agreement in place for the site of the district's new elementary within the next 90 days.
Voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved $109 million in bond funding to build a high school addition and a new elementary school and to make related infrastructure improvements.
The new elementary will be located somewhere north of Hwy. 55 and west of the future expansion of Peony Lane to Lawndale Lane.
Jim Westrum, Wayzata's director of finance and business services, said the district has already had preliminary discussions with "several" landowners regarding a potential site.
"If all goes to plan, we'd like to begin pushing land and dirt in about a year, March of 2015," he said.
Unofficial results show 3,818 votes were cast in favor of the plan and 1,107 against. Voters also approved renewing the district's technology levy by a similar margin.
Most Wayzata school buildings are already at or near capacity, and enrollment projections indicate the district are likely to gain another 700 to 900 high school students over the next decade. More than 1,200 homes have been built in the district over the past four years, and 1,600 more are slated by 2017.
Construction of 172,000 square feet of new high school space is set to begin in the fall of 2014. Once finished, the renovated high school will be able to house 3,900 students. At its current capacity, it is already the largest high school in Minnesota.
