More about the proposed new elementary school

Site plan of proposed new elementary school

(The Decorah Community School District's presentation to the Decorah City Council can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eCAU4MLRLA.  The presentation lasted for more than an hour, so there was a lot of information provided.  The following are some further notes on what was presented):

• The biggest change in the latest site plan, compared to the one from one year ago, is that the tennis courts near John Cline would be relocated to make room for the new elementary school.  The tennis courts were built in 2011 at a cost of $364,000.  The cost was split between the Decorah School District and the City of Decorah, in part because half of the tennis courts are on city property and the other half are on school district property.  The school district has volunteered to pay the entire cost of constructing new tennis courts, but it would like to continue the present agreement between the city and the school district to split maintenance costs.
• There's one other major change in the latest site plan, which is that there are separate drop-off points for car traffic and bus traffic.  Buses would drive into the new parking lot on the western edge of the property.  Cars would wait in line on Claiborne Drive in the area where there are now 37 parking spaces directly north of the tennis courts.  However, other parking spaces adjoining school district property would be changed so that there would be a slight increase in parking spaces for students.
• The 28 acres of school district property just north of the dike from Decorah High School that are being offered to the City of Decorah have limited potential, school officials admit, because the property is in a floodplain and no permanent structures can be built.  The area has been used by the school district in the past for various practice fields.
• The proposal from the school board is that the City of Decorah give up ownership of the land underneath the high school softball field and half of the high school baseball field--land owned by the city, even though the land is used by the school district.
• Have other questions about the proposal?  Watch the video or e-mail us at news@decorahnews.com