East Ridge High School in Woodbury is popular — maybe too popular.
It’s so popular that two chunks of its growing attendance area are being carved off, sending students to two other high schools.
It’s so popular that real estate agents estimate it could add $10,000 to some home values.
And it’s so popular that a development about two miles away has been named after it — Eastridge Woods, a name that reminds home buyers that their children will attend East Ridge, even though they live in Cottage Grove.
“It’s a good-news story from our perspective. People are happy with the aesthetics and design of East Ridge,” said Mike Vogel, assistant to the superintendent for operations of the South Washington County School District.
He said students receive good educations in all of the district’s high schools — East Ridge, Woodbury and Park in Cottage Grove. But, he said, many residents succumb to what he calls the “shiny building syndrome,” leading them to favor the 6-year-old, $90 million East Ridge High School.
East Ridge is in a part of Woodbury that expects to see about 16,500 new residents by 2025, and Vogel said the school’s boundaries are being shifted because its projected enrollment is projected to outstrip that of Woodbury and Park.
About 1,800 students are enrolled at East Ridge; about 1,885 attend Woodbury; and about 1,830 go to Park. The district’s goal, Vogel said, is to ensure that the number of students at each remains roughly equal — ultimately about 2,300.
The East Ridge area that is being shifted to Woodbury High School is largely undeveloped and will add up to five students per year. But the area shifting to Park eventually will move more than 200 students annually from East Ridge. The changes will be phased in over four years.
Vogel said homebuyers’ decisions potentially could be swayed by the proximity to East Ridge on the assumption — right or wrong — their children will attend the school.
“They can look and see that shiny new building. It’s a great selling point,” he said.
“Everyone has the expectation that people in new homes will be going there. But obviously we can’t accommodate all those folks.”
Vogel has heard complaints from families who moved near East Ridge when their children were young, planning to have them attend the high school. “I have to tell them, sorry, we can’t guarantee boundaries 15 years into the future,” he said.
$10,000 EFFECT ON REAL ESTATE
John Tschida, a Coldwell Banker agent specializing in Woodbury and Cottage Grove real estate, said homes within the East Ridge enrollment area are more desirable and worth more — an estimated $10,000 more than homes within Park’s boundaries, he said.
“I just was selling one house, and until (the district) said whether it was going to be in East Ridge or Park, no one was jumping,” Tschida said. “But when they said it was in East Ridge, people started jumping.”
John Lockner, an agent with ReMax Results in the Woodbury area, agreed. “Absolutely this has an effect,” he said.
Homeowners now finding themselves in the Park enrollment area will see their property values hurt, he said. “They have taken a hit,” Lockner said.
But he said it will be years before the actual impact is known. “There is just no evidence yet whether this is going to be $10,000 or $20,000,” Lockner said.
It’s well-known, Lockner said, that schools affect property values. When a certain area is switched from one school to another, he said, the reaction is usually swift.
“You get a lot of really angry people,” Lockner said. “They moved there intending for kids to go to a certain school and find out they can’t go there.”
The school district’s Vogel has heard the complaints, but he said they are inevitable.
“Every school district faces this with new buildings,” Vogel said. Districts routinely cause swings in property values when they open or close schools, he said, just as new shopping areas or roads can boost property values.
‘WOODBURY, WOODBURY, WOODBURY’
When asked this week about the new boundaries, several Cottage Grove neighbors who now find themselves included in the Park enrollment district had mixed reactions.
“Park is OK,” Hamida Bradaric said. “But East Ridge is bigger, better, newer.”
Bradaric said her neighborhood still identifies with nearby Woodbury. “Woodbury is better,” she said. “Woodbury has the stores, and everything you want,” she said. “Everything is Woodbury, Woodbury, Woodbury.”
Neighbor Kim Lancman offered a different perspective.
“I am actually glad,” said Lancman, who favors the redrawn lines, even though her daughter attends East Ridge. “It makes sense for the Cottage Grove kids to stay together at Park.”
Ann Kastner, basking in the sun in a lawn chair, said the change might hurt her property values. “It would have helped to keep this area in East Ridge,” she said. “But I don’t plan on selling anytime soon.”
Sitting next to her was 19-year-old daughter, Amanda, who graduated from East Ridge last year. “East Ridge is better than Park,” she said.
Home builders have recognized the appeal of East Ridge — witness the Eastridge Woods project. The 155-home D.R. Horton development lies on the border between the newly drawn East Ridge and Park attendance areas.
Vogel said that usually the district intervenes when a developer names a project after a school — such as one who recently wanted to name a project Liberty Ridge, after the Liberty Ridge Elementary School in Woodbury.
Districts can’t order developers to change names, he said, but they often ask the city to make the request of the developer.
The district successfully got the name of the Liberty Ridge project changed, but not Eastridge Woods. “We missed that,” said Vogel.
Real estate agents say the name is a reminder to families that they will be sending their children to East Ridge, which they say is a strong selling point.
Bob Shaw can be reached at 651-228-5433. Follow him at twitter.com/BshawPP.
