Finally...Coming to their senses!

I guess that I am not the only one confused about this Cleiborne Road issue. Now the school board has 5 offers! Tell me again why we are still considering Cleiborne Road right now? We absolutely should look at building there in a few years when the money is available for someone to spend the MILLIONS that it will take to improve the roads.

Two articles today in the Columbia Daily Herald about the issue.

County Commissioners Balk at Cleiborne Road idea.

Three New Locations Offered for the School.

If you haven't had the opportunity to visit the site and the section of Cleburne in question, please take the time to do so. It's plain as day to see. I went again this morning to remind myself.

Directions:
Take Beechcroft Road to Cleburne. Turn Left on Cleburne. School site is approximately 1 mile on your right. The section of Cleburne that everybody should be concerned about is just past Petty Lane, on the East side of the RR crossing, up to Carter's Creek Station Rd.

Enjoy

County Commissioners balk at Cleburne plan
By SKYLER SWISHER

A site for a proposed Spring Hill middle school met criticism from county commissioners who threatened to withhold funding for road improvements Tuesday.The commission’s Budget Committee gave initial approval to a resolution that would make it policy for county government to not pay for major infrastructure improvements for remote developments.

"The [Spring Hill] taxpayers are getting ripped," Commissioner Rick Miller said. "It’s time we draw the line."

Miller’s proposal could have far-reaching implications if approved by the whole commission since no one has come forward with an offer to make road improvements for the new school. The school would be located on a plot of donated land near a proposed 1,200-home subdivision.

Although the School Board has chosen the site, the County Commission controls the county’s purse strings.

The commission might block funding for the project if the infrastructure issues are not addressed, Miller said.

Spring Hill officials annexed the area but did not annex the road, meaning the county is technically responsible for improving the thoroughfare.

Commissioner Glen Hasse said he has heard bringing the roads up to the standard needed to accommodate school traffic could cost more than $4 million. Hasse said the developer should foot the bill.

$4 million?!?!?

Repeated phone calls to the developer, Pete Crutcher with Chapter 2 Investments, were not returned.

The committee’s vote came after the Maury County School Board approved the Cleburne site this past weak.

Board members passed on a site on Port Royal Road offered by developer Cyril Evers, who is also chairman of the Maury County Planning Commission.

They said that site was not acceptable because of a wetland on the property, as well as stipulations from the developer the school system pay for a road and make sewer improvements.

During Tuesday’s meeting, county lawmakers expressed discontent with the school system’s decision.

Building a school on Cleburne Road seems impractical, Hasse told the committee.

"I went out to the site over the weekend and almost had a heart attack looking at the roadway," he said.

Roads in the area are narrow. There are also one-lane bridges. There’s a railroad crossing, and railroad tracks used by slow-moving trains run parallel to Cleburne Road.

Commissioner Lee Dugger said he’s worried about hazardous waste being transported on the railroad track near the school.

"Propane gas and all other hazardous materials go down that track all the time," he said.

The Maury County Office of Emergency Management’s Hazard Mitigation plan states hazardous material incidents are "likely" in Spring Hill, and that hazardous material is transported via rail in Maury County.

There are about 30 major facilities within Maury County, including the General Motors’ plant near the Cleburne site, that manufacture or store hazardous materials, according to the report.

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Three new locations offered for facility
By D. FRANK SMITH

While city and School Board officials continue to quarrel over improvements around the "preferred" site for a new middle school, three more potential sites for schools have entered the fray. The Maury County School Board gave its blessing to building the school on Cleburne Road on a plot of land donated by Chapter 2 Investments’ Harvest Point development. However, some city and county officials prefer the school be built elsewhere.

There are at least four other sites developers are offering to donate for a school.

These include a site off Port Royal Road, the Honey Farm development that will be off U.S. Highway 31, the Northpoint development, also on U.S. Highway 31, and a piece of land near Marvin Wright Elementary School on Derryberry Lane.

Spring Hill officials have said they want the school built on the east side of the city, where the growth is occurring and infrastructure is in place.

Water and sewer extensions from the city have not been installed to the Cleburne site, and a nearby railroad crossing runs parallel to the road, and could delay bus traffic throughout the school day, city officials said.

Alderman Eliot Mitchell said the sites on the east side of the city would benefit all parties more.

"It’s more reasonable," he said, referring to the Port Royal site. "We’ve already got sewer there, we’ve already got water there, and we’re already addressing roads on the east side."

However, School Board officials said the Port Royal site had portions that were not feasible because it is within flood plains and would cost millions in site improvements.

Another potential site was presented by Spring Hill-based lawyer Huntly Gordon.

Gordon told the board he would be willing to donate property near Derryberry Lane, 1/2-mile away from Marvin Wright Elementary School.

"The way I understood it, Derryberry would be extended to run into a new road that’s being proposed," School Board Chairman Shaw Daniels said, "and that road would run back into some of the property where this would be located at."

However, because it was only recently presented to the board, it is unclear how serious the Derryberry Lane offer is.

Several improvements would need to be done near Cleburne to accommodate the traffic sure to circulate around a new middle school, not to mention the more than 1,200 homes planned for the Harvest Point development where the school will be located.

Some of the roads near Cleburne are little more than 10-feet wide, and the cost for improving them could be several million dollars, city officials have said.

"There’s some concern over the city being ultimately left holding the bag on upgrading the roads," Mitchell said. "We’re not wanting to necessarily pick up that cost."

Though the Cleburne property was annexed by the city, the road was not, and Mayor Danny Leverette said improving it would be the responsibility of the county’s highway department.

Likewise, Maury County officials have also said they are not willing to pay for the road improvements.

"We don’t have the money right now to repair that road to the level that it ought to be done," County Mayor Jim Bailey said.

That leaves private developers to repair the infrastructure. Bailey said developers will have to "step up to the plate" for the multi-million dollar improvements.

Chapter Two Development’s co-founder Pete Crutcher did not return repeated phone calls Tuesday.

Though School Board members appear to be set on choosing Cleburne for the newest middle school, these other donated properties could be used for future schools, school officials said.

"We know we’ve got several sites that are going to be needed with the number of schools that we’re proposing," Daniels said.