The Garden City Telegram
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Possible high school site gets a look
Published 7/1/2008 in News : Education
By EMILY BEHLMANN
ebehlmann@gctelegram.com
A local consulting firm will conduct an environmental and wetland study on an area in northeastern Garden City that could be the site of a new high school.
The USD 457 Board of Education approved Monday an agreement with Terracon Consultants Inc., Garden City, to study an area of land located within ward 2, section 4, township 24, range 32.
The land is north of Mary Street and east of Campus Drive, within the U.S. Highway 50/83 Bypass, according to Superintendent Rick Atha. The undeveloped agricultural cropland is owned by four different entities, according to the contract with Terracon.
Atha said the purpose of the $3,300 site assessment is to see whether the land would be appropriate for the proposed new high school, which would be funded by a bond issue on the Nov. 4 ballot.
The high school would be part of a USD 457 long-range facility plan that also includes converting the current GCHS building into a middle school, converting Abe Hubert Middle School into an elementary school and converting Garfield Elementary School into an early childhood center. J.D. Adams Hall, on the GCHS campus, likely would house the New Outlook Academy alternative high school and the Therapeutic Education Program.
Specific building plans and the bond issue's cost still are being developed.
Atha said the school district is looking for 65 to 75 acres of land, which would provide room for the planned school and possible future expansion to the building, plus any athletic facilities the board might opt to build there. Plans for athletic facilities are yet to be determined.
"We don't want to get landlocked again," he said.
According to the district, the current GCHS building sits on 18 acres bordered by Main Street on the west, Edward Street on the north, Third Street on the east and Olive Street -- with a one-block portion jutting south to Holmes Avenue -- on the south.
With an enrollment of about 1,900 as of the official 2007-08 student headcount, the 18-acre property provides about .009 acres per student.
Compared with schools of similar enrollment numbers, Dodge City High School has about .022 acres per student, Derby High School about .026, and the Shawnee Mission schools an average of about .022.
According to the Terracon contract, the assessment will include environmental issues, like whether hazardous substances have been released on the property, as well as a wetland review, looking at issues such as drainage of the land.
The study will be completed within 15 business days, the contract states.
Atha said that by Aug. 1, the school board expects to place an option on land that would be purchased following a successful election. Preliminary building plans also are likely to be available Aug. 1.
He said he wants voters to have as much information as possible about the look and location of the proposed new school.
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