School board revisits bus barn site Wednesday

The on again, off again site decision for Maricopa Unified School District’s transportation facility may be on again this week.

MUSD’s governing board will decide at Wednesday’s meeting whether or not to give the district the go ahead on using the Lakes property for the site of the new transportation facility.

Recently the board gave the district permission to look at possibly trading the property or selling it because of concerns raised in the community over the placement of a transportation facility in a community subdivision.

“To my knowledge we haven’t had an offer on the property yet. We will present the options to move forward at the meeting,” said representative for the district Tom Beckett.

The city has been vocal about their displeasure with the Lakes property as a possible location for the new transportation facility.

City staffer Paul Jepson, who acts as liaison between the district and the city, said, “The city is not in favor of this site.” The reasons are the site’s proximity to so many residential units, as well as other transportation aspects.

Currently the district houses its buses on the same parcel of land as the high school, but that land is needed to complete the high school expansion.

The Lakes parcel is the only piece of land the district owns that doesn’t restrict the construction of a transportation facility.

In addition to owning the 12-acre parcel adjacent to Global Water, the district owns another 12-acre parcel across Powers Parkway, which would allow for future expansion of the site.

The district currently has roughly $5 million in bond money available for construction of the facility.

If you go:

What: MUSD governing board meeting
Where: Pima Butte Elementary, 42202 West Rancho El Dorado Parkway
When: 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 24

(Click here for the meeting agenda.)

File photo