New drop-off, pick-up rules at Hacker

A plan that alters the parking and traffic situation around Hacker Middle School in order to avoid congestion before and after school has been approved by the Mountain Home City Council after much discussion and input from the police chief, citizens and concerned parents last week.

Under the new plan, buses will park along the side of the school's playground and will park in the direction corresponding with the direction they intend to travel once departing.

The pick-up and drop-off zone in front of the school has been expanded to accommodate approximately 30-35 cars. Another such zone was created on East 2nd North Street. The zones create a pick up and drop off zone parents can access by making right-hand turns around the perimeter of the school until they find an open spot to pick up or drop off their children.

Student loading and unloading is prohibited from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the south side of East Jackson Street and the north side of East 2nd North to eliminate students crossing mid-block and in between vehicles.

Police Chief John Walter said the plan will go into place once the required signs have been ordered and are in place. He said police will ensure the public is educated on the plan before tickets are issued to enforce any violations.

The plan is a modified version of the plan Walter proposed to the city council Aug. 25 that called for no parking before and after school on the south side of E. Jackson and the north side of E. 2nd North.

Walter proposed the plan after meeting with residents, school district officials officials from the First Student bus service, business owners and others, including the city's Traffic Safety Board.

Residents who attended the city council meeting objected to the chief's plan that prevented them from being able to park in front of their homes 24 hours a day.

He had proposed the idea of no parking on the south side of East Jackson to eliminate one of what becomes four lanes of traffic just before and after school and to reduce the bottleneck effect parked cars on that side of the street cause. He also had proposed that KinderBloom Preschool use its driveway as a pick-up/drop-off location, but a parent opposed that idea since the driveway isn't big enough to get a lot of cars in and out easily. The parent also expressed concern that parents would get stuck behind other drivers who were still in the building talking to teachers or conducting other business there.

Resident Terri Broome lives on East Jackson in a house without a driveway.

She opposed not being able to park in front of her house, having to have guests leave by a certain time of the day and the perceived drop of her property value. She suggested allowing residents on the street without driveways to park on the street using parking stickers.

Walter said allowing certain people to park on the street would make it easier for other people to park on the street and he didn't think parking passes were a good idea based on his experiences in law enforcement at previous locations.

However, the council voted to allow residents of the street to park two vehicles on the street using parking stickers to designate resident vehicles. Under that plan residents would have been able to park on the street 24 hours a day, but the street would have been closed for public parking at all times. That idea was changed during a special council meeting Thursday night.

The council's initial decision was reached after almost two hours of debate on both sides of the issue with council members acknowledging during the meeting the difficulty of balancing the public's safety with the street's resident's points of view.

"These are the decisions we were elected to make," Mayor Tom Rist said during the meeting. "We need to cowboy up and make a decision."

The council held a special session on Aug. 28 to revisit the plan and at that time Walter proposed that instead of issuing parking stickers for residents to instead prohibit students from being picked up or dropped off on the south side of East Jackson Street and the north side of East 2nd North Street. The council voted to approve that proposal.

The council, mayor and police chief acknowledged the solution may not fix all the problems associated with the school's traffic congestion just before and after school, but each felt it was a good first step. The new plan will be monitored and changes will be made in the future if needed.

Making East Jackson Street a one-way street in front of the school and eliminating left-hand turns on East Jackson onto South 10th East Street were discussed at both meetings and may be looked into more closely by the city if additional changes are needed.

Representatives from the school district were not present during both discussions, a fact that did not go unnoticed by the mayor or council.

"They've dumped this whole thing on us," Rist said. "I don't think it's fair no one from the school district is here to voice an opinion."

Walter called the plan a "good compromise" and said the modified plan would still accomplish the goals of his original plan.

Walter said since being sworn in to office in January that the most complaints he has heard concern the school's traffic and parking problems. He said he wanted the department to be responsive and to do something about a problem they continually hear about from residents.

To implement the plan, the city will order signs indicating the new parking restrictions. In front of KinderBloom the city will move the crosswalk further down the street to allow for a pick-up and drop-off zone in front of the pre school.

Walter said the move will cause the school to move openings in the playground's fence to accommodate the new crosswalk.

However, school superintendent Tim McMurtrey said the fence would remain as is to avoid cutting into it, but said it could be done later if needed.

He said the school also has ordered signs and repainted bus and parking lines and said it was just a matter of getting the message out to parents to start the plan.

McMurtrey said something needed to be done to help eliminate traffic congestion around the school.

"I'm all for it, hopefully it works," he said.