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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPOUDRE R1 SCHOOL DISTRICT SOUTH BUS TERMINAL ADVISORY REVIEW - 55 91 - SUBMITTAL DOCUMENTS - ROUND 1 - PROJECT NARRATIVEr POUDRE SCHOOL DISTRICT R-1 SATELLITE SCHOOL BUS FACILITY PROJECT NARRATIVE May 17, 1991 INTRODUCTION Poudre School District owns and operates a pupil transportation system comprised of 112 school buses and a facility at 2407 Laporte Avenue which is used for vehicle maintenance, system administration, and training. The District's transportation system transports about 6500 students between residences located throughout the 1800 square mile jurisdiction and its 40 schools. The system operates effectively as the lowest cost per mile large pupil transportation system in Colorado. By maintaining a low cost transportation system, Poudre R-1 is able to devote greater resources to classroom instruction. The District continuously strives for more efficient ways to provide safe, effective, and environmentally responsible support services such as transportation. It is for this reason that Poudre R-1 is seeking to develop a satellite school bus terminal. FACILITY NEED The need for a satellite facility stems from two conditions in the transportation system: 1. Crowding at the Laporte Avenue facility. District growth has led to concurrent growth in support service facilities located on Laporte. Such growth will continue requiring more space for warehouses, shops, equipment, and bus storage. 2. Excess system mileage. With the concentration of population growth in the south part of the District, demand for new school bus service has followed this growth. Buses stored at the Laporte Avenue facility travel many thousands of excess miles to and from pickup points and schools in the southern part of the District. Locating a satellite terminal in the southern part of the District would address both problems. It would alleviate crowding at the current facility and reduce system operating costs. By storing 25 to 30 route buses at the south terminal, route mileage could be reduced by about 45,000 miles per year. This translates into annual cost savings of over $50,000. PROJECT DEVELOPMENT Poudre School District has explored several options for the development of a south bus facility. These range from the purchase of an existing facility which could be converted to use as a school bus terminal to the joint development of a bus facility with a new school. In terms of project viability and cost, the best option is to build a facility tailored to address specific transportation needs. the site owned by the District on Skyway Drive appears to be the best location for the facility for the following reasons: 1. Situation. The Skyview location is one and one-half miles south of Harmony Road and just west of College, both major corridors for school traffic serving southern schools and attendance areas. All new schools are likely to be located on or near the Harmony corridor. 2. Access. The Skyview site has traffic light controlled access L ollege Avenue from a relatively low -volume local countystreet. planned street upgrades and traffic light modifications, accessthe 25 to 30 buses and related traffic should be adequate. 3. Cost. The District owns the Skyview property and will be able to develop the terminal without having to bear land acquisition costs. Selling or trading the Skyview property does not appear to be a viable option since there has been little interest shown by residential or commercial developers. 4. Size. The seven and one-half acres size of this property is ideal for a 25 to 30 bus facility while leaving room for landscape screening and some expansion. The facility proposed for the Skyview site will include a small office/vehicle maintenance building, a bus wash building, fueling for gasoline and diesel vehicles, parking for 30 school buses, and parking for 35 to 40 employees. The west and north borders of the property will be bermed and landscaped to screen the facility from the residential neighborhood. Security fencing will be located behind the berms and designed to blend in with the landscaping as much as possible. SITE ACCESS Bus access to the site will be shared with Gateway to minimize curb cuts on Skyway. There will be an "auto only" entrance on Constellation. This will serve about 30 autos as bus drivers report to work from 6:30 - 9:30 a.m. and 2:30 - 5:00 p.m. With maintenance personnel and office staff the total number of autos normally accessing the site will be about 40. SITE DEVELOPMENT The 7 1/2 acre site is virtually wide open. One 4,700 square foot office and maintenance building and one 1,500 square foot wash bay will be the only enclosed buildings on the site. Additional offices and maintenance bays totaling about 2,500 square feet may be added if use warrants. The site will be flattened in the middle area by removing on an average of 2' of existing grade. Buildings, parking and fueling areas will be in this middle area. Part of the earth removed will be used to construct a berm about 5' above street level along Skyway Drive and about 4' above street level along Constellation Drive. Landscaping along these berms will provide further screening of the site. The balance of the excavated earth will be spread over the south part of the site for future School District use as needed. Landscaping along Constellation Drive will be about 40' deep. Landscaping along Skyway Drive will be about 150' deep. The landscaped area along Skyway contains storm detention areas for the entire site. Additional landscaping will be provided between the site and the main entrance to the Gateway Building. The south end of the site will be seeded with dryland grass maintained by the School District. The fence line will be placed behind the landscaped areas so that the landscaping can visually screen the fence from residences across the street. Lighting will be directed downward and inward to prevent objectionable glare and impact on the surrounding properties. Parking for bus drivers and full time personnel and visitors to the facilities will be screened from the surrounding streets by the landscaped berms. The uncovered bus parking area will be located along the east side of the site, farthest from the residential areas on the north and west. The location of the bus parking area on the east side will provide minimum impact from the running motors of the buses. In addition, the berms and landscaping will further reduce noise outside of the facility boundaries. A ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION All gas tanks, oil reservoirs and dispensing equipment will be built in full compliance with EPA Standards. Fuel tanks will be built in double -walled tanks with monitoring devices between the two walls to detect any leakage before material can leach into the ground. BUILDING CHARACTER The maintenance building and the bus wash building will be flat roofed, masonry structures. Exterior materials and details will provide a horizontal accent to both buildings.