JACKSON BUS GARAGE CONCERNS EXPRESSED

JACKSON -- The Jackson R-2 Board of Education will decide later this month whether to proceed with construction of a new student transportation center near the Orchard Elementary School.

Superintendent Wayne Maupin told the board Tuesday night the district has the special-use permit to build the facility to park, maintain, and secure the district's fleet of school buses. Newly-elected board President Jack Knowlan Jr. said he saw no reason why the issue should not be on the board's April 23 agenda for action.

Earlier in the meeting a group of residents who live on and in the vicinity of Springview Drive near where the center will be built voiced concerns about the transportation center. Some of them voiced the same concerns at the April 1 meeting of the Jackson Board of Aldermen.

In March the Board of Aldermen approved by a unanimous vote issuance of a special-use permit to the school district to build the transportation center after no opposition was expressed to either the planning and zoning commission or during a public hearing held in March by the aldermen.

Speaking for the group at Tuesday's meeting, attorney Jeff Dix reminded the board it had earlier rejected the Orchard Street site for reasons of safety, bus traffic, and that it was not economically feasible.

He also presented an unsigned letter from a physician who claimed the center would cause health problems for students and the neighborhood. "You are putting an industrial company next to a school in a neighborhood," said Dix.

Another resident, John Dowdy, said he did not feel an all-out effort was made to inform the people of the transportation center. In response, Maupin told the group the safety of everyone is the number one concern of the school district.

Commenting on the allegations of health problems, Maupin noted the school buses have been for many years near the Central Elementary School with no apparent problems. He also pointed out that nearly all of the buses will have to make a stop at the Orchard Elementary School each day to drop off and pick up students. He also said the parking lot for the buses would not be a "Kansas Dust Bowl."

A letter from the school district's bus drivers and other taxpayers was presented to the board supporting the new transportation center.

Speaking for the board, Knowlan said both sides voiced genuine concerns. He said: "No decision like this is ever easy. The board has considered many concerns: the safety of the students, concerns of the neighbors, and the need to park and secure the school buses."

Knowlan said it is not uncommon to see school buses parked around school buildings in other areas of the state. He said if someone were to donate a perfect spot to the district on which to build a transportation center, and there were no economic factors to consider, the board could consider building the facility elsewhere. "The fact is, this facility needs to be built somewhere," he said.

Later the superintendent briefed board members on the project. He reported the architect's estimated cost of the facility is $177,288. Of that amount, Maupin said $125,000 in bond proceeds can be used since the facility is being constructed on the elementary school property.

Maupin said the entire facility has been moved northward, away from Orchard Street, out of concern for the neighbors. This will allow erection of decorative fencing and the planting of evergreens on the south side of the area along Orchard Street. There is also a large "green space" and field that will separate the center from property owners to the east.

Maupin said the 52-by-76-foot steel building would be at the far north end of the tract "as far away from the property owners as possible." The building will contain two work bays to do maintenance on the buses and one wash bay to clean the buses. He said the color of the building will match the color of brick in the elementary school.

In other business, incumbent board members Larry Koenig and Jack Knowlan Jr. were sworn to new, three-year terms. Jeanette Bollinger was sworn to the one-year, unexpired term of former board member Nancy Schafer.

After electing Knowlan by acclamation as new board president, the board elected John Lorberg as vice president.