7.4. SR 05-11-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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i Education ~,~, Mav G,-1~98/Elk ~iver St~r N~w$/3 Board balks at School Street Widening by Jim Boyle Staff writer' The Elk River Area School Board discussed, but did not bite on, a proposed School Street- widening project last Tuesday. Instead, it directed Super- intendent David Flannery to meet ~vith the city of Elk River about options to make the pro- ject more affordable. The city is proposing the .road improvement and has for about five years. There is some support for the project on the School Board; however, the decision to send the superintendent out on a fact-finding mission is already likely to push the project off another year, F]annery explained. And while there is support for the project in g~neral, there are some School Board members who seem apprehensive or ques- tion and/or question how big an issue School Street traffic is.. Traffic jams like this occur twice a day on School Street when school is in session. The city of Elk River is proposing it be widened to four lanes. (Photo by Jim Boyle) Tom Zerwas, the Elk River police chief, was disappointed to hear of the School Board's inde- cisiveness. "It seemed like this was going to be the year," he said. "It's real- ly unfortunate they didn't decide to go ahead. ~Ls far as I'm con- cerned it's an accident waiting to happen.". The police direct Lraffic in front of VandenBerge Junior High School before school and after school, Zerwas said. Without the high school, Zerwas said, there would be no need for the road improve- ments. Board Member Therese VanBlarcom questioned whether the school district was shouldering a responsibility fro' road improvements for the eco- nomic development of Elk River. She said there needs to be ways to get from east Elk River to west Elk River other than Highway 10 and School Street. Pat Klaers, Elk River's city administrator, has said the city is waiting for the school district to petition the widening project, unless somethinghappens that causes the council to rethink its position. The city could force the project -- and the assess- ment. For now, the School Board wants to know if there is a way that the school district could pay for the assessment interest- free or if there were any other options. Board members lem~ned last Tuesday it would cost the school district an addi- tional $112,000 in interest to pay for the project, if they went with a 15-year payment plan. The school district could pay it all off up front, but a $200,000 .bill would be tough to swallow all at once, members said. City officials have wanted the project done ever since the other half of School Street was widened about five years ago. "We stopped where we did because we didn't want to pay another $200,000 to finish the street," Flannery reported last Tuesday. The school district is coming off another assessment on which it pays about $20,000 per year. Everyone agrees that widen- ing the road would make it safer. In the absence of the road improvement, the School Board plans to look at its high school parking policy as means of con- trolling the level of traffic.