After putting the project on hold in October, the Blaine County School District once again intends to install a 12,000-gallon biodiesel storage tank at its bus maintenance facility on Fox Acres Road in east Hailey.
"We're going back to the original plan because we think that's the most cost-effective solution for the district," said District Business Manager Mike Chatterton. "From what we heard from the strategic plan, and what we've heard from environmental groups in the county, we're making the right decision."
The school district has been discussing the proposal publicly for almost a year, and Chatterton said that from what he's seen, the project has "very limited opposition."
However, the Idaho Mountain Express received telephone calls from 10 Wood River Valley residents opposed to the plan after word spread late last week that the storage tank was an agenda item for Tuesday's school board meeting. Some of those who called live in the north Woodside area where the district intends placing the tank, others have children who attend school at nearby Wood River High School and others expressed concerns about the potential for avalanches or wildfires in the area.
"They always say there's little opposition before they try to push something through," said Sun Valley resident Sue Garing. "It doesn't make any sense to me to put a fuel storage tank near a school zone."
Chatterton explained that at this time, he is only trying to get permission from the school board to receive bids for a tank. He said an actual vote by the board on whether to buythe tank won't take place until at least March.
Project on hold
District Superintendent Lonnie Barber announced in October, a few weeks before an election for a 10-year, $59.8 million plant facilities levy, that the biodiesel plan was being placed on hold for six months while the school district re-evaluated the proposal.
"What I really want to do is put people at ease that we're not just going to jump on their toes right now," Barber said at the time. "There is a voice in the community that doesn't want us to put that biodiesel tank in there. I want to research it some more and I want to talk to people more. I just think we need more interaction before we decide what to do."
School district officials met with residents near the bus maintenance facility in April and again in mid-December.
Chatterton said the district took another look at property the district owns on Aviation Drive but decided the property isn't large enough. That property, just north of the Blaine County Public Safety Facility, is the intended site for a school district food storage and maintenance facility.
"It just isn't going to work at that location," Chatterton said. "It's not a big enough piece of property."
Furthermore, Chatterton said, locating the tank near the airport does nothing to reduce bus traffic in Hailey as desired by the district and the city.
The school district currently operates its school bus fleet on B20 biodiesel, a combination of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent regular diesel. Biodiesel, derived from vegetable oil and animal fats, is considered an environmentally friendly fuel because of fewer carbon monoxide and particulate emissions.
The district currently fuels the bus fleet at a B20 pump at the Hailey Chevron station, but plans to reduce costs and bus trips for fueling by installing a storage tank at the bus maintenance facility.
The facility is located in a mainly residential area in the north Woodside area and on what is considered the district's Wood River High School campus. Immediately north is the Community Campus and north of that is Wood River High School.
The Hailey Planning and Zoning Commission has already approved placing the storage tank at the facility.
Opposition
Some opponents of the plan allege that the school district is violating an agreement made with the neighbors when the bus maintenance facility was approved for construction in the area several years ago.
"The Blaine County School District is breaking a previous agreement and promise with the neighborhood of north Woodside that reads, 'No fuel storage shall occur at the high school campus,'" said area resident Leslie Dilley. "I feel it's inappropriate to place a fuel storage tank on our high school campus."
It's not just north Woodside residents who don't agree with the school district plan.
"It really belongs in an industrialized area and not anywhere near the proximity of kids," said Bellevue resident Dusty Calhoun. "It seems kind of foolish. The last thing we need is some wacko getting the idea they could go there and cause an explosion."
"I am another individual that is completely against the fuel storage tank proposed for the high school," said Hailey resident Kelly Bird. "I think it's a dangerous area with all the avalanche possibilities."
Bird alleged that the school district was not being "completely forthright" with the proposal.
"The school district made a promise that there would never be a fuel storage tank up there and now that's exactly what they're doing," Bird said. "That got dropped to get the levy passed, and once the levy passed, it was right back on the table."
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com