Development of 40 acres south of Bayfield Middle School has been stymied for years by lack of a Highway 160 access at the east edge of town to reduce traffic impacts on the Commerce Drive-Highway 160 intersection.
Now Bayfield School District owns that land and wants to build a new school there for third through fifth grades. But according to discussion at Tuesday night's town planning commission meeting, the district plan could be at risk from a town and Colorado Department of Transportation requirement for the district to build a road through the 40 acres south to 160.
Planning commissioners were considering the district's application to annex the 40 acres, which is surrounded on three sides by land that's in town. They voted unanimously to recommend approval to town trustees. But part of the annexation process is to negotiate an agreement with the town of what the applicant will do, such as installing infrastructure and transferring water rights, in order to develop the land.
School district owner's representative Marty Zwisler gave planning commissioners a history of how district officials came to the plan that includes the new school. The district stopped using the old school buildings on South Street for classes back around 1997 because they were not considered an acceptable place for children. But with district enrollment growth, around 70 kindergarteners were moved back there in 2005.
"It was a clear recognition that the district had to do something, because this was just for a short time," Zwisler said. But the first graders were moved there too. "In 2008 we out-grew the building with kindergarten and first and installed (four classrooms in two) modulars. The economy tanked. It slowed enrollment growth but didn't stop it." He said district enrollment is now the highest it's ever been.
More than 200 kids are in the building deemed unsuitable 19 years ago, he said. "We have to get those kids out of those buildings."
The plan to do that is with the new school for grades 3-5 and major renovation of the elementary school to accommodate K-2. This will depend on getting an $8.5 million state grant and voter approval of a bond issue for around $30 million.
The district did water, sewer, drainage, and road impact studies over the winter. The only issue they showed was with roads, three intersections in town and Oak Drive by Bayfield Middle School
"There's no question, even though one of the intersections is failing now, (the new school) would make it worse," Zwisler said. "We'll move around 325 students there. It's designed for 450. The traffic study was based on that. The study said proposed improvements on the three intersections would be adequate for that. We've included the cost of that in our (project) budget." Improvements on Oak by BMS are included.
Zwisler continued, "About two weeks ago, we got a list of town requirements. Most are reasonable. The component of building a new road from Cedar Drive through the property and requiring easements through two other properties and doing the intersection at 160 goes beyond the scope of anything we anticipated. We are looking at a multi-million dollar taxpayer burden imposed on a school. What we're proposing would leave the town infrastructure better than it is now."
He said, "We have to find a solution to this. This could blow the $8.5 million grant. Without it, we don't have the bonding capacity to build this project. This could be a deal breaker. I understand that the town and CDOT would like to have this new road. The school recognizes this would be great. Parents would use it. But to saddle the school district with the burden of requesting that taxpayers pay for that road that's not necessary for the school to be built and will benefit property developers down the road doesn't seem right or appropriate."
Zwisler concluded, "We've gone into this expecting, and for the most part receiving, cooperation from the town. We all serve the same people. I would think the town would be bending over backwards to make this happen. This road requirement isn't consistent with that expectation."
Mayor Rick Smith responded, "I applaud the district for addressing the overcrowding. That's really not in question. What's really before us is very simple. It's looking to the future, taking a piece of land and developing it." Whether it's a private developer or a school, "It's treated the same way. Water, sewer, access are the three things we have to address."
He continued, "Because it's a school, we can predict with almost 100 percent accuracy that (residential) development will follow. People want to live near the school, especially for younger children."
Traffic flow will have to be addressed for any development north of the highway, Smith said. There are only two accesses to the north half of town, Commerce Drive and County Road 501. "They (CDOT) have told us very clearly that Commerce Drive is living a short life as full access. We are living on borrowed time. ...CDOT will hold us to a very hard line in the future."
The requirement is that whoever develops first must pay the cost of road or other infrastructure improvements, with reimbursement from developers who come along later, he said.
"It has to be addressed," Smith said. "It's not going to go away. CDOT won't let us slide one inch. They've made that very clear to us and probably you."
Smith urged district and town staff to get together and work on a solution before the annexation goes to the town board.
Zwisler noted the school board was meeting at the same time as the planning commission, and this was the main topic. The agenda for that meeting showed it as an executive session for items subject to negotiation.
