Town split over proposal for site of new school

WILLARD, Mo. -- A development plan for a new high school and industrial park has divided this town, prompting petitions, signs in front yards and battles between residents.

The fight is over a proposal that would involve Conco Quarries Inc. donating land for the school and business park, if the town agrees to close two roads that divide the current quarry from a future quarry area.

The city's Planning and Zoning Commission tabled the proposal earlier this week after many people raised concerns about the deal.

For the past 10 days, opponents have distributed petitions protesting the road closings. And signs in front yards urge residents to investigate the project and charge that not enough facts have been made public.

"This is tearing people apart," lifetime Willard resident Ron Crighton said. "It made enemies out of friends."

Andrew Baird, whose family owns the quarry, said Friday that closing the roads was necessary before the project can move forward.

School officials say they hope a deal can be worked out. If not, the cost of building a new $20 million high school will likely go up.

"We're in a time crunch," Assistant Superintendent Janelle Royal said Friday.

School and quarry officials say the two roads in question are unsafe. A portion of one road divides quarry property and 40 acres of quarry land that the business plans to use in the future. Once started, quarry operations would be run about 1,375 feet from the new school.

Under the proposal, the roads would not be closed until a new corridor was built that would run through the property, providing access for the new high school and the proposed business park.

The roads would move an estimated 11,000 vehicles through the donated land. Opponents of the plan say that much traffic won't be safe.

"If I would have known an industrial park was part of the deal, I would have never gone for it," said Crighton, who made the motion for the district to accept Conco's land donation.

"I couldn't have been for that, he said. "I just couldn't."

School officials are hoping to remain on a schedule that would open the new school in the fall of 2005. Bids are set to go out in January, with groundbreaking following in the spring, Royal said.

Building anywhere other than on the donated land would force the district to purchase between 35 and 40 acres and pay infrastructure costs including water, sewer and electricity.

Resident Melissa Smith says the controversy is likely to "get worse before it gets better."

"This is a community where people really like to keep to themselves," Smith said. "But when there's something that really gets them riled up, that's when they really get excited."