BUS BARN

good for kids. ey say it will create a hub when it is next to the building, now called Building 103, that will house the new Carlson Elementary School.

Buckley and Steele are joined in their enthusiasm for moving the TMF to the track by some school board members and sta members, who believe the new building will be good for students and the district by helping the district provide safe transportation to school, eld trips, sporting events and more.

However, not everyone in the county agrees.

Discord over the proposed building, its location and its costs have pitted o cials from Clear Creek County and Idaho Springs against the school district despite many years of working collaboratively; school board members are at odds with each other; and the district’s Citizen Accountability Team or CAT has been outspoken about its concerns over the building.

Among the many issues: Some believe the track should be used for multifamily housing instead, while others believe the escalating building cost has become a problem, and the district could use the money for educational purposes rather than a building. Some have said the TMF should be put in another location, and the school district didn’t spend enough time researching other locations. Some have suggested that the school district outsource its busing program so it wouldn’t need buses or a TMF at all to save the district money. e animosity has escalated to the point where some have suggested school board members should be recalled, and the City of Idaho Springs is taking the school district to court because it says the district has not gotten the appropriate approvals for the building.

Bus drivers have been concerned they are losing their jobs thanks to the swirling storm taking place throughout the county, including on social media, Buckley said.

Work continues

Site development work has started, though it stopped on July 26 because of the lawsuit. Buckley said portions of the building were expected to be delivered on Aug. 2.

e school district needs to move its buses and maintenance facility to a new location because it sold the property and the former football eld to Four Points Funding, with a two-year lease-back program to give the district time to nd a new TMF location.

e school district owns 14 buses with one housed at King-Murphy Elementary School and another at Clear Creek High School/Middle School in case of emergencies, according to Buckley. e district also owns 15 smaller vehicles such as vans and trucks.

e district plans to build a 60-foot by 80-foot prefabricated metal building on the track. Buildings by Design is providing the building, and the school district expects it to be ready for use by this winter, Buckley said.

Buckley says the new building will be smaller than the current facility, but it will be more functional. e current building, which originally was the Clear Creek County maintenance facility, is 40 feet wide, and buses are 40 feet long. erefore getting a bus into the current facility for maintenance takes driving the bus in and jockeying it into position so the bay doors can be closed and the bus can be worked on, she said.

Finances

According to Hollie Harlan, the school district’s chief nancial o cer, the school board has authorized spending no more than $6.5 million on the TMF. About $2.3 million is coming from the proceeds of the sale of the former football eld and current bus barn property, the district borrowed $3.8 million in July 2022 and the remaining $400,000 will come from the general fund.

According to details provided by Mike Moonan, who began as a consultant for the school district and was hired to work for the district as a facility manager on special assignment, of the $6.5 million, $648,000 will be spent preparing the site – creating

IDAHO SPRINGS’ LAWSUIT TO STOP TMF CONSTRUCTION

The Clear Creek School District is headed to Idaho Springs Municipal Court at 2 p.m. Aug. 4 because Idaho Springs o cials want to stop construction of the district’s Transportation and Maintenance Facility until local ordinances are met.

According to the court documents, the city says the school district hasn’t gotten the proper zoning approvals before site work began at the track south of Building 103, which is the former middle school.

The school district believes that because it’s a public entity, it falls under the jurisdiction of the state rather than the City of Idaho Springs. The Colorado Department of Public Safety’s Division of Fire Prevention and Control issues building permits for school districts, it says.

According to the Division of Fire Prevention and Control website, “All work done on public schools … that is not considered as maintenance or service will require a permit and adhere to the adopted codes of the division.”

It would take about seven weeks to go through the city’s approval process, according to a timeline delineated in a letter attached to the court document. In the letter, Idaho Springs provided a timeline had the school district gone through the city’s process starting in August 2022.

City Administrator Andrew Marsh said in a written statement: “The city has informed the district that it disagrees and that a limited scope of the city’s zoning laws do apply to the proposed project. … At the end of the day, the two jurisdictions simply disagree about local land use authority.” the entryway on the south end of the property, grading the site and more in preparation for the building to be situated there. e rest will be spent on the building and site design, contingencies, permits, testing, surveys, furniture, xtures and more. e district has some room to add amenities without going over the $6.5 million such as carpeting in the o ces.

According to MOA Architecture:

“ e Transportation and Maintenance Facility is a pre-engineered metal building which contains a dispatch area with kitchenette, two full-sized bus bays, one small-vehicle maintenance bay, two o ces and several touch-down desk spaces as well as storage space. e exterior nish of the building is metal panel with a metal roof and downspouts. e interior of the building nishes includes a metal liner panel in bay areas and gypsum interior partitions. e site includes parking areas for 12 buses, bus block heaters, a location for the fuel tank and several smallvehicle parking spaces.”

Discussion about getting the school district a new TMF has been going on