Bus barn to stay at P-W site

July 7, 2006

By JOEL DAVIDSON

Frontiersman

MAT-SU - Karen Byron and her fellow Brentwood Estates and Midway Estates neighbors can breathe a little easier and perhaps sleep a bit sounder after a proposal to locate a large school bus parking lot in their neighborhood fell through.

Laidlaw International Inc. successfully outbid competitor First Student to win the right to transport thousands of Mat-Su Borough students over the next five years. Since winning the bid, though, they have had a difficult time finding a spot to locate a bus barn and roughly 150 vehicles.

Laidlaw officials hoped to avoid using the traffic-plagued site near the intersection of Hyer Road and the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, the former bus-barn site for First Student. Instead, they wanted to run operations on the old Alaska Sales and Service location near the Parks Highway and Hyer Road intersection.

The site, however, had problems with contaminated soil, an oily septic tank and inadequate sewer drainage. Fixing those problems and others would have taken too long for Laidlaw to meet its contractual agreement with the Mat-Su School District to have a fully operational bus barn ready by July 22.

Late last month, Laidlaw abandoned its initial site and agreed to buy the former First Student location - a 7.7-acre tract which they reportedly purchased for $2.85 million.

Neighborhood residents near the proposed site adamantly opposed Laidlaw's plan and actively organized against it.

Byron joined her fellow neighbors for a June 29 celebration at Mid-Valley Christian Center when they heard that Laidlaw decided against moving into their neighborhood.

&#8220We have a church here and we were really concerned about our children,” Byron explained. &#8220When we found out that they decided to purchase the other land, we decided to have a celebration.”

Tom Hyatt is the district manager for Laidlaw Education Services in Alaska.

Despite neighborhood residents' concerns about exhaust fumes, traffic problems and noise pollution, he said his company based its decision to abandon the former Alaska Sales and Service location only because it didn't think it could meet the July 22 deadline.

&#8220The bottom line is, we were running out of time to make the modifications,” he said.

Did neighborhood concerns influence Laidlaw's decision at all?

&#8220No,” Hyatt said. &#8220We listened to them and heard what they had to say, but if we had time, we probably would have moved forward with the Alaska Sales and Service site.”

Officials from the school district, however, expressed relief that Laidlaw opted out of its first choice.

&#8220We always had serious questions, but unless Laidlaw stumbled we couldn't technically do anything,” said Scott Schwald, the school district's transportation director.

From the very beginning, Schwald preferred keeping the current site on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway, he said.

The buildings and layout of the property were designed specifically for a bus barn, he added. The only major downside to the spot is heavy traffic, which continually frustrates bus drivers' attempts to pull on and off the highway.

If all goes according to plan, bus drivers may need to negotiate only the seemingly endless traffic stream for one more year before the state installs a traffic light. By next summer, the state Department of Transportation plans to build four Palmer-Wasilla Highway traffic lights, one slated for the Hyer Road intersection.

Ron Martindale, DOT highway safety coordinator, said the state plans to have the traffic signals in place by fall 2007.

&#8220It is still in the design phase now, but they will be hitting the street next summer,” he said.

Hyatt said he's just happy Laidlaw doesn't have to worry about a bus-barn location anymore.

&#8220It's just one more checker off the table,” he said. &#8220Now we are concentrating on employee hiring and interviewing (former) First Student drivers.”

Contact Joel Davidson at

352-2266 or joel.davidson@

frontiersman.com.