Bayfield town trustees approved a resolution Monday evening to start the process of annexing 40 acres south of the middle school where a new school is proposed for grades 3-5.
Mayor Rick Smith emphasized to several audience members that this wasn't to approve the annexation itself. "It just sets the process in motion, so the town and school district can work together. It's a formality," he said.
In his staff memo, Town Manager Chris La May said school districts aren't typically required to follow local land use rules, but with annexation, the town can stipulate requirements for development of the property. "This is a critical action, as the town only gets one opportunity to ensure that the development impacts are addressed," he said.
No one spoke against the idea of a school on that land, which is surrounded on three sides by land that's in town. But there were concerns about potential impacts on existing businesses that depend on the Commerce Drive highway access. That's because the prospect of increased school traffic is pushing the need to build a new north side access and stoplight intersection at the east edge of town. If an eastern intersection is built, CDOT said it might restrict the Commerce Drive access, likely making it right-turn only onto 160.
As previously reported in the Times, La May said water and sewer system capacity is adequate to handle the new school. The district will have to pay water and sewer plant investment fees. Those will be spelled out in the annexation agreement, along with money to cover the town's costs to process the annexation, conveyance of water rights and money to help convert those from irrigation to municipal use.
"Street impacts are more challenging," La May said. Those include improvements on East Oak Drive to handle traffic for both the new school and the mid school. The district is proposing a roundabout at the Mountain View/ Lakeview/ East Oak intersection. The town wants a six-foot wide sidewalk from there to the school entries.
The other intersection is Sossaman Drive at County Road 501, which gets a lot of school traffic from Forest Lakes. That needs a left turn lane on 501 and an acceleration lane for cars turning from Sossaman, La May said.
The town master plan has North Cedar continuing south to 160, La May said. The town wants to make sure that's preserved, that the district would convey a 60-foot easement for the extension of this to the town and get a 40 foot-easement from a property owner just east of the Evenings Porch property, where a 40-foot easement already exists, for the connection to 160.
"The biggest thing is the tie-in with 160," he said. He listed a $500,000 contribution from the district to help pay for the access and related improvements on 160. The town got an estimate a couple years ago of around $3 million to do the new access, the connector road, and signalized intersection.
"There's no one individual that has deep enough pockets to make all those improvements, including the town," La May said. "When it's constructed, it will probably be a joint effort between many property owners, the school district, and the town."
School Superintendent Troy Zabel said the new school plans were precipitated by enrollment growth. "We're looking at district growth well into the future. We're putting the 3-5 school there for shared use with the mid school, to be able to access both schools easily."
He continued, "We feel we've been very responsive to the town and feel we've come up with some good solutions on roads that have been issues already... The one caveat for us is we will view our solutions through the lens of what's best for kids."
Zabel said the district wants it in the annexation agreement to be able to subdivide 13 acres on the northeast part of the 40 acres to provide housing for teachers, "to make it more attractive to bring high quality staff in."
Suzanne Arms, who lives just west of the school land, said she likes the roundabout as a way to slow traffic there. She asked how the district will deal with the tendency of kids to take the shortest route somewhere, such as to the library after school. Zabel said the school land will be fenced.
Business owners Daryl Yost, Brenda Hieb, and Paul Peeples worried about the Commerce Drive access to 160 being closed.
"Where does CDOT come in? Is there a north-south road being put in or just an easement?" Yost asked.
Hieb asked, "Will there be a frontage road to the east access if they close that access at Commerce? We are very much concerned about that. The way the economy is, we don't need any more negatives."
Peeples wanted to know if the school district will be prohibited from building until the east end access is in place, to prevent traffic impacts on Mountain View and Commerce Drive. "The town should step up and build the intersection and the frontage road, and collect sales tax to pay for those without impacting developers or the future growth of the town," he said. Peeples owns the land south of the school land. His own proposals to develop were thwarted in the late 1990s or early 2000s by lack of the east end access.
Yost wanted to know if any other east side property owner would be allowed to develop without the new intersection if the school district is allowed to do so. "Should they expect the same deal?" he asked.
La May said there is a warranty deed guaranteeing the Commerce/160 access. The impact there would probably be CDOT prohibiting left turns onto 160 when an alternative is available.
CDOT was among the agencies submitting comments on the school plan. They said a new highway access permit will be required. They oppose routing school traffic to Commerce Drive. Without the north access and road, "Commerce Drive is likely to fail and/ or present even greater safety issues than currently exist." CDOT offers to work with the district to facilitate the process of getting the access permit.
Smith noted there will be other opportunities for public comments during the annexation process.
