Davis School District leaders can say they've done their part to keep Hill Air Force Base open.
Instead of building a new elementary school near the base this year, the district has closed a deal for 17 acres of land outside of noise encroachment areas.This summer, base commanders and Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, scuttled the district's plans to build the new school at 2700 N. Church St. They feared it would jeopardize the base's chances of surviving closure in 1995 hearings because of its proximity to air strips.
"We're clean on this one though," Superintendent Rich Kendell said.
Students, teachers and taxpayers have paid a significant price for the protection:
- The district had already spent $30,000 on the Church Street site for engineering - money it won't recoup on a future sale of the land.
- The district had also spent $289,000 for the new land, money the district didn't anticipate spending this year.
- Teachers and students will have to abide another year of classes in portable classrooms.
The school, which was supposed to be complete this July in time for year-round opening, was to relieve overcrowding at eight nearby schools. Now, it won't be finished until July 1995.
That means Adams Elementary, for example, will get at least two more portables instead of losing two. In all, the eight Layton-area schools will have 29 portables until the new school is finished compared with 21 now.
Once the school is finished, the others will each lose at least one portable, some up to four.
The district didn't need all 17 acres for one school site, Kendell said. But officials had not yet seen a final version of an updated Air Force map that showed whether a school on the land would be a noise encroachment.
"We knew from preliminary review that it was going to be close. We can now move the school to the eastern edge of the property and be completely out of their noise zones," he said.
The excess land will also allow the school to have a larger than usual playground.
Residents can expect construction to begin in March on the site, which is just north of Highway 193 on sloping land popular among locals for snow sledding.