Decorah school officials are trying to quickly find a new bus barn

Decorah School Superintendent Mike Haluska says he will meet with City Administrator Chad Bird Tuesday to discuss two properties in the Decorah Business Park which might fit the school district's need for a new bus barn facility.

Haluska told school board members Monday night such a facility would need around five acres of land and there are two such parcels available in the Business Park.  Haluska says there is "clearly some urgency" to find a parcel of land that would work for the barn  by the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

Halsuka says the biggest consideration in finding property for a bus barn is that it must have city water and sewer service.  That's because the water is used to wash school district buses, cars and vans.  The runoff water can go into the city sewer system for treatment, but if it's in the county, the water would have to be purified through an elaborate, expensive process.

The Decorah Business Park locations became the favored location for the bus barn after school bus drivers raised concerns about an earlier proposal to look for land in Freeport--a proposal the bus drivers thought would create traffic problems.