Council OK’s preliminary plan for high school

By Angie Anaya Borgedalen

Although it has no name yet, the proposed new high school took another step forward when the City Council recently approved a preliminary development plan for the first phase of the project.

The high school, located along A Highway at 104th Street, will be the Liberty school district’s second high school and is needed to ease overcrowding at Liberty High School, where more than 2,000 students currently attend, officials said.

The old high school was built in 1974 and expanded in 1998, according to Interim Superintendent Mike Brewer. The new school is expected to open in the fall of 2010.

Some council members, though, expressed concern with the potential for traffic congestion and inexperienced drivers traveling to and from the school along 104th Street.

“I do think there is growing concern about traffic on 104th Street directed from 291 Highway when the school opens,” Mayor Bob Steinkamp said.

Brewer said the district plans to make improvements to the road network around the school to accommodate traffic. The 88-acre school site is surrounded by the proposed New Town at Liberty, an 8,000- to10,000-home development.

“High schools do bring a lot of traffic,” Brewer said. “We want to make sure it is safe for kids; 104th Street is a challenge we have.”

Brewer said the district as part of its final plan would be making several hundred thousand dollars in improvements to 104th Street, which is currently partly gravel and partly asphalted. The street is split between Liberty and Kansas City as is the school district.

Steve Hansen, public works director for Liberty, said it would probably cost the district approximately $500,000 to asphalt half a mile of roadway to recommended standards.

City planner Kathryn Burr said Lutjen Engineering had conducted for the district a traffic impact study in January, but the study would be revisited at the request of the council. She said the proposed road improvements would be included in the final development plan, which goes to Planning and Zoning on Tuesday, June 10, and to the City Council on Monday, June 23.

Meanwhile, Brewer said the district had hired Universal Construction to serve as construction manager of the high school project. He said a pre-bid meeting was set for today.

“Universal will be our construction manager for the high school, but we plan to use a general contractor for Kellybrook Elementary,” Brewer said.

The two schools will be built with funds from the sale of $58 million in bonds approved by voters in April.

Only the first 225,000-square-foot phase of the high school, which would accommodate 850 students, would be included in the bid process. The second phase would bring the high school building to 340,000 square feet to house a student body of nearly 1,600.

In addition to classrooms and offices, the new high school includes a library/media center, a 950-seat auditorium, 2,400-seat field house and three physical education gymnasiums. Eight athletic fields and eight tennis courts as well as three concession stands and 1,320 parking spaces are also planned.

Liberty Editor Angie Anaya Borgedalen can be reached at 781-4941 or aborgedalen@npgco.com.