THE PUBLIC MIND: JACKSON SCHOOL BOARD MUST RECONSIDER BUS GARAGE SITE

To the Editor:

I am a concerned citizen of Jackson living on Spring View Drive, just a stone's throw away from the proposed site of the Transportation Center (School Bus Garage). I agree that a new Transportation Center is sorely needed for the Jackson R-2 District, however I am totally opposed to the location for this facility, which is to be constructed next to the new Orchard Drive Elementary School. I need to express my opinion and hope there are others in the city of Jackson who will come forward with support to those of us in the immediate area that oppose the location of the Center.

First of all, the Jackson City Council has granted approval of a special use permit to the Jackson R-2 Board of Education which permits this industrial center to be allowed to operate in an otherwise zoned area. Had I realized that areas zoned specifically for schools, offices, and residences could be overridden by a mere vote of a few persons I would have not bought a home where there was a possibility of zoning changes toward industry! I do not recall ever being informed of this proposed Center being constructed beside my property. Yet this seems to be of no concern to the City Council nor the School Board. "Letters were sent," they keep repeating, as we concerned citizens are ping-ponged back and forth from the Council to the Board.

There are several valid concerns that I have regarding this facility: Safety will be jeopardized in the form of increased traffic in the area that is already teeming with buses, other vehicles, as well as children walking to schools in the area. At the Tuesday, April 9 meeting of the Board of Education, a bus driver stated that the traffic will not be any busier than it already is. Yet, think of the present 38 buses being parked there and beginning at approximately 6:45 a.m. the 38 drivers streaming into the area with their 38 personal vehicles, then the 38 buses leaving for their routes, returning to the schools after the children are delivered, while at the same time children are being driven to the schools by parents and are walking. This will be happening twice a day, nine months of the year.

Additionally, the Center will have gas tanks which must be replenished from those huge trucks bearing gasoline which will also be traveling through the area. And if the buses are maintained, are not supplies and parts needed periodically in order to keep the buses running properly? I do not understand how anyone can say the traffic will be no busier than it already is!

Construction of this facility means another summer of dust blowing toward my home and settling on my car, my deck, in my home and in my lungs, not to mention my husband's, children's and neighbor's also. Yet it will not end when the facility is finished since the Center will have gravel surrounding it instead of asphalt or concrete, dust will continually be billowing forth from the gravel as the buses roll to and from their designated parking area! Mr. Maupin, superintendent of Jackson R-2, said it will not become a "Kansas Dust Bowl." Reality and previous experience of living beside just a gravel road tells me that this outpouring of dust mingled with numerous large gas-powered vehicles operating equals a threat to my environment!

I believe these are pressing concerns that must be considered before this Center is built. The three people on the School Board and the one bus driver that responded to these concerns that were expressed at the April 9 meeting in my opinion merely shrugged it off, laughed it off, and tuned out the concerned neighbors of the surrounding area of the proposed site. One person on the Board indicated that other school districts do have their Transportation Centers adjacent to their schools, and that makes it right for Jackson R-2 to do likewise. Upon doing a little research, I found that the buses serving the Cape School District and the Perryville School District are nowhere near any school building nor residential area. Even if some districts do have their garages next to the school and in a residential neighborhood does not automatically make it right! Besides noise pollution, think of the emissions, the leakage, the grease seeping into the soil under the gravel where some day up to 50 or more buses will sit. I imagine in years to come the odor which the wind will carry and linger in the air of our neighborhood, the kind you detect in areas where industrial facilities operate. Think of the children in the adjacent school, the teachers and other staff there, who must tolerate the additional noise, the dust, the odor, and the extra frenzy of activity that will begin before the school day ends; no help to the already harried elementary teacher after 7 hours of 30 kids under the age of 9.

I hope that citizens of Jackson that feel as I do will contact me or another person they know who is trying to stop the construction of this Transportation Center from the present proposed site, and urge the Board of Education and the City Council to relocate it to a more appropriate area.

Denise Dowdy

Jackson