Schematic design for service center presented to board

The Allen ISD Board of Trustees got their first look at what the new AISD service center planned for the northwest corner of Watters Road and Bossy Boots Drive might look like at Monday night's meeting.

Facilities Director Greg Suttle and Christian Herr of PBK Architects presented for the first time a preliminary schematic design for the 145,000-square-foot facility, which has been in the works for nearly four years and met with considerable controversy at both of the locations that have been considered for construction.

As it turns out, the district will not consider splitting off any of the service center's various functions -- bus parking and maintenance, facilities offices, food storage, distribution, and training -- into multiple facilities. While several possibilities were explored over the past several months in executive session, none of the options available proved adequate for the district's needs, said Trustee Louise Master.

"We've absolutely looked at dividing it up," she said. "We've looked at putting transportation elsewhere, and we've just come to the conclusion that there is nothing else."

The main building, which will house offices, storage, distribution and the 600-person training area, will face Watters Road with a front parking setting the building back from the main roadway. As required by city planning ordinances, a berm will run along the front of the property to shield the road from any lights from vehicles in the parking lot.

"This is located just north of an industrial park area, and there's residential also around the area," Herr said. "So keeping that in mind, we wanted to let our design represent what's around the area. We set the building off the site somewhat, and as you'll see later on we even tried to make it look less industrial-like and a little more residential -- sloped roofs and things of that nature."

Behind the main building will be the main bus and white fleet parking area, which will accommodate approximately 130 buses. Further west, there will be a vehicle maintenance shop with an outdoor bus wash and degreasing area. North of the shop will be a fuel station with a 14,000 gallon diesel tank, 4,000 gallon natural gas tank and small unleaded gasoline tank for fueling of buses and white fleet vehicles.

The tanks, which will be 800 to 900 feet from Cheatham Elementary to the west, will be situated above-ground to ease maintenance and make it easier to tell if a tank has ruptured or started to leak.

"If a leak should happen to occur, everything is collected and safely moved, so there are certain precautions taken into account when we actually locate these tanks, so that's something to take into consideration," Herr said. "This is a typical setup that we use for all the service centers we provide for other school districts across the state."

Buses will enter and leave the facility at two entrances located off Bossy Boots Drive. That roadway will be extended to Bray Central Drive at the district's expense to accommodate the new traffic.

"The reason it is laid out in this particular way is that our traffic from employees and visitors would be coming off of North Watters up on the north and from the south," Suttle said. "There's actually gates at the north. We will not let buses come in or leave at the north entrance at Watters."

After seeing the proposed design, trustees requested more information about various aspects of the facility. Board President Gary Stocker said he was interested in seeing what kind of educational possibilities for students exist both inside and outside the facility for vocational tech students.

Trustee Jason Shepard said he would like more detail about the screening plan for the site given the interest it has generated so far.

"I think that it doesn't answer all of the safety questions, but it does certainly does help answer some of the aesthetics from a property value standpoint," he said.

Another trustee, Carl Clemencich, inquired about the safety of the on-site fuel tanks and asked for an analysis of what the benefits could be of placing them underground instead of above ground.

The plan did not sit well with everyone, however. Stacy Schultz, who spoke in opposition to the facility's placement near Cheatham earlier in the meeting, told the board after the presentation that she is concerned about the possibility of fuel leaks given the tanks' proximity to the elementary school, which her daughter attends.

"The fact that there's potential with our children, 800 feet away, is not OK," she said. "I have not heard once any mention of another location. We have another facility. Why can't we have the fuel storage at the other facility?"

Master said while it is not known whether or not the tanks do pose a danger, the district will find an answer.

"We absolutely look at every single thing that poses any kind of a safety hazard to our kids," she said. "That's not to say we're not going to find out that it's not a hazard and you're going to agree with that, but we will certainly make sure that we get the right information."

Design development approval is expected at the August 20 board meeting, with construction documents expected in December. A preliminary timeline presented to the board shows construction beginning in March 2013 and ending in June 2014.

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