New Jackson lot/loop to be finished this summer
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The development of a new parking lot on the north side of Jackson Elementary has begun taking shape this month.
The 25-space lot will also feature a “loading loop” for parents to drop off their children by the north access doors to the school, according to K.C. Keen, School District 11's manager for the project. Funded with $165,000 from the bond issue approved by voters last year, the lot/loop should help relieve the congestion that has been occurring at the beginning and end of school, he said. Completion is anticipated before the start of school in August. There is a small, current loop on the east side of the school, near the main entrance off Edwinstowe Avenue, but its older design tends to confuse drivers and as a result the school has not been using it at at all, Keen pointed out. School buses have been delivering children at the south end of the school, off Darby Street; this is not planned to change. Other paving work related to the project is taking place on the playground. Depending on the issues involved in solving moisture problems that crews have encountered in replacing old playground pavement, the school's south parking lot (currently gravel) may also be paved this summer, Keen said. Other Westside school bond-issue work is occurring at Buena Vista Elementary, where a squadron of earth-moving machines have been implementing sanitary- system improvements. The work is budgeted at $50,000. Four smaller new boilers are replacing three larger old ones at Coronado High, but not with bond-issue money. According to District 11 Facilities Director Mike Maloney, the work is being funded through an energy performance program in which the school borrows money to pay for the units, then “repays” the loan through the energy savings resulting from having more efficient heating. As a result, the district's expectation is that the boilers will “pay for themselves,” Maloney said. Westside Pioneer article |