School access road still under discussion

Crook County School District #1 superintendent Mark Broderson addressed the Moorcroft Town Council at Monday night's meeting regarding the town's requisites for accepting the access road from Rail Road Street to Country Lane through school property.

Broderson explained to the governing body that the state is willing to pay for a new parking lot south of the high school and immediately east of the existing lot; the district is asking the town to take over the ownership of said roadway.

"The district isn't in the business of maintaining roads," said Broderson.

Mayor Dick Claar has been a strong proponent of the roadway since the school first approached him with the idea.

"I think the road is a great addition that is badly needed up there [and] I'm not opposed to accepting this road if it's built to the specifications indicated," he said.

There are two issues with this idea, though. The first is that the roadway as it is drawn now is not a through street, but ends at the school parking lot. Councilman Dale Petersen made the point he and Councilman Owen Mathews had iterated previously.

"My biggest concern is that it doesn't connect to Country Lane. For the town to justify taking over that section of road, there needs to be a loop up to Country Lane instead of ending at the parking lot," he said. Councilmen Ben Glenn and Paul Smoot concurred.

Broderson argued that the route on the north side of the parking lot that connects that lot to Country Lane would be considered the access for the town as well. Petersen reiterated that there is no benefit to the town to accept only a partial road.

Thus, the second issue: the standards that the roadway must meet. The body vetoed the idea of attempting to utilize the small egress road owned by the school even though the superintendent gave them permission. Glenn said, “You may not care if we drive on it, but you’ll care if we tear it up.”

Petersen followed, “That would have to be built up to the same specifications as the rest of the road.” Smoot added that town standards include curbs and gutters as well.

Broderson expressed his concern allowing the town to actually make the access road a town street all the way from Rail Road to Country Lane, saying, “We don’t want a lot of city traffic through our school parking lot all day long.”

Glenn commiserated, “I understand what you’re saying, sooner or later you’re going to have semis come in to unload on Rail Road and come out. If and when we do take it over, we can designate no truck traffic.”

He advocated the town taking the street, saying, “I just want a few things answered, then I’m good.”

Public works director Cory Allison advised installing 10 mile an hour signs to slow down inevitable traffic, too. After a bit more discussion, Broderson agreed to contact the district’s funding institution and engineers to ascertain the viability of answering the town’s requirements.