Alternative sites proposed for school

By Emily Richmond

Thursday, March 30, 2006 | 6:33 a.m.

Henderson officials asked Clark County Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes on Wednesday to reconsider plans to build an elementary school in a rural neighborhood, suggesting several alternate locations within the city's limits.

But one option apparently left off the table may be the one that makes the most sense, said Peter Kingman, president of the Mission-Paradise Rural Alliance, representing residents of the rural communities in the southeastern Henderson foothills.

The district wants to build Smalley Elementary School at the southeast corner of Paradise Hills Drive and Greenway Road, providing relief to overcrowded J. Marlan Walker International Elementary School in nearby Mission Hills. Henderson City Council delayed a vote on the matter until April 18.

Kingman said he would support moving the Smalley project back to a city-owned parcel adjacent to Walker - as the School District originally proposed several years ago - if it meant protecting the rural site. The city had turned down that original location after neighbors opposed it.

Unlike the current site being considered for Smalley, the 27-acre parcel adjacent to Walker is outside the boundaries of the city's Rural Preservation Overlay, a designation that protects the area from extensive development. The parcel is also closer to the freeway and arterials and has established infrastructure, Kingman said.

"They say they need 12 acres for an elementary school," Kingman said. "On that site they could put two (schools) and a park."

Rulffes, who met with Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson on Wednesday, said the district was doing its best to be accommodating. The school's design has already been revised several times to address neighborhood concerns, including adding an equestrian trail for community use.

"I have great appreciation for people who want to maintain a rural lifestyle, but the district has to act in the best interest of all, not for the good of the few," Rulffes said. "It's a sticky situation because we want to be good neighbors but we need new schools."

Gibson did not return repeated requests for comment made over a three-day period.

Walker opened in 2002 on Scholar Street with 600 students. The enrollment is now more than 1,200 students and 19 portable classrooms are in use.

Walker Principal Alan Bowman said 680 of the school's students live west of Greenway and could be zoned to attend the new Smalley school, reducing traffic congestion in the morning and afternoon hours.

Theresa Renner, also a member of the alliance, said she would be ecstatic if the Smalley project moved back to the original site, provided it didn't mean a delay in starting construction. The district plans to open the new school in 2007.

"Walker needs relief right now," said Renner, who has four young children.

Rulffes agreed that keeping the Smalley school project on schedule was essential.

"The mayor has pledged to remove all roadblocks possible of those alternate sites will work," Rulffes said. "They are fully aware of the difficulty of a delay."

At Wednesday's meeting, city officials proposed as other sites the former National Guard Armory on Horizon Ridge Parkway south of Horizon Ridge Drive and a city-owned parcel at the northwest corner of Mission and College drives.

Matt LaCroix, director of real property management for the district, said the Armory location needs extensive work and already is being considered for a school. As for the city-owned parcel, it was rejected because of its proximity to the freeway, lack of access streets and drainage concerns, all issues that would require pushing the school's opening back.

"We'd never make the timetable," LaCroix said.