A mile from where Springfield Public Schools wants to place the new Pipkin Middle School, the district once had a K-8 building that it spent years trying to shut down due to traffic congestion and safety concerns.
The proximity between the proposed Pipkin site and the former Hickory Hills campus — shuttered in 2010 and later sold and demolished — was referenced by a member of the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission. Both properties are near the intersection of U.S. 65 and Chestnut Expressway and the 3M manufacturing plant.
“I did not attend Pipkin. I attended Hickory Hills Elementary and Middle School, which sat just on the east side of 65 across from 3M at that point and both of those items were a chronic issue for that school,” said Natalie Broekhoven, vice chair of the commission, at a July 13 meeting. “So I don’t think moving Pipkin to an open space just north of 3M is an appropriate solution.”
Last month, the commission overwhelmingly rejected the district’s request to acquire the proposed Pipkin property, citing concerns with safety, access and walkability. They said the property is not suitable for a school and using it that way is inconsistent with the city’s master plan.
However, the school board has the authority to override the objection, finalize purchase of the property and construct Pipkin at that location. A vote to do that may come as early as Tuesday.
At that meeting, the board will receive a presentation on the design and site plan for Pipkin and Reed. Constructing the two middle schools — Reed at its original location and Pipkin on a new, larger campus — was recommended by the Community Task Force on Facilities and part of the $220 million bond issue in April.
A week before that bond issue was approved by nearly 78% of voters, the district announced plans to buy 20.9 acres in the 3200 block of East Pythian Street for Pipkin.
The undeveloped parcel is zoned for heavy manufacturing in an industrial part of the city. The property is bounded by railroad tracks, the interstate, a manufacturing plant, and a wooded area.
Seven times the size of the existing Pipkin campus at 1215 N. Boonville Ave., the proposed property is located at the east edge of Pipkin’s rectangle-shaped attendance boundary. The district has repeatedly said it scoured the entire Pipkin zone for a better option and did not find one.
“Our focus and our commitment was to find property within the Pipkin boundary that was adequately sized for a middle school,” said Travis Shaw, deputy superintendent of operations for SPS.
The current campus has limited parking, no designated space for bus and car drop off, and “not anywhere close to the amount of space needed” for extracurricular activities, he said.
Shaw said the proposed site, which is vacant, allows the district to design a campus with all the necessities plus a full-sized football field and eight-lane track.
The site is nearly four miles from its existing location close to the Greene County courthouse, halfway between the downtown and Commercial Street.
“People talk about the proximity and where it is located and that is actually working to an advantage for our students, 80-85% of our kids are now going to become bus eligible and they are going to get reliable transportation to school,” he said.
It is unclear if busing or other transportation will be available for students involved in afterschool activities.
Similarities, differences between campuses
SPS has dismissed any comparison between the proposed Pipkin campus and the former Hickory Hills campus built in 1951.
“The sites are extremely different,” Shaw said.
The old Hickory Hills was adjacent the U.S. 65 and Chestnut Expressway intersection with traffic entering and exiting off the busy, east-west thoroughfare. The Pipkin campus is several streets north of the intersection and at this point the sole access is the two-lane Pythian Street.
“There is nowhere near the amount of traffic on Pythian that you see on Chestnut and 65 and so that really isn’t a concern for us. Our transportation department, our center is there, so our buses drive on that road. There is some industry further west, where they do have some semi trucks that go through that area,” Shaw said.
“But to me they are not even comparable sites because this (proposed Pipkin site) does not have direct access to 65. It does sit at a dead-end street so the traffic that is going to go down there is going to be people going to the school or 3M.”
Similarities between the old Hickory Hills campus and the proposed Pipkin site include:
- Neither is in, or immediately adjacent to, a residential neighborhood;
- There are limited ways to access the property. Currently, the only way to access the Pipkin property is through Pythian Street, which runs along the southern edge. It dead-ends just west of U.S. 65;
- Sidewalk and pedestrian access is limited or nonexistent;
- Close to heavily traveled railroad tracks, which can impact access and travel times;
- Near the 3M manufacturing plant.
The push to relocate Hickory Hills started in 2005 and 2006 with recommendations from an outside consultant and a long-range planning committee. Both cited plans for residential and commercial development east of U.S. 65 as a primary motivation, saying it would only exacerbate existing traffic and safety issues.
Citing board minutes from 2006, Shaw said parents supported moving Hickory Hills to acquire more land and boost safety. “Chestnut and 65 was getting really, really busy even in July of 2006.”
Concerns prompted relocating school
The district was so adamant about closing the Hickory Hills location and rebuilding at 4650 E. Division St. that it entered into a lease-purchase agreement, with annual payments initially coming from the operating fund. The project was paid off using bond funds.
Once emptied, the former Hickory Hills was briefly used for storage and training before it was sold and demolished to make way for commercial development including Menards.
Kelly Allison spent 14 years as principal of Hickory Hills, working at both the former and current campus. He retired from the district, spending his last five years as principal of Kickapoo High School.
He said traffic congestion, limited access for pedestrians and bicyclists, and the safety of students and their families getting to and from the school were among the chief concerns at the old Hickory Hills location.
Asked if smells from the manufacturing plants nearby were an issue, Allison said it came up periodically “especially when we didn’t have air conditioning, on hot days when we had to have windows open.”
“Every once in a while they’d do a burn that had a smell to it. We’d make a phone call and there would be four or five employees from 3M that would show up and just assure us that everything was safe and what we were smelling was just a typical burn that maybe the wind just happened to blow in the right direction,” he said.
Sylvia Sheppard, a realtor, was an active parent and PTA member at the former Hickory Hills site from the mid-1990s through the early 2000s.
During that time, she recalled complaints from parents and teachers about the odors coming from 3M. “We were across the highway from it and it was bad,” she said.
She said 3M sent employees over and made changes to its exhaust system, which improved the situation.
More:SPS’ proposed site for Pipkin school goes to planning commission, city recommends denial
Sheppard, who still lives near U.S. 65 and Chestnut Expressway, said it continues to be a “tricky intersection” with high traffic congestion at various times of the day.
She said development northeast of the intersection has only increased traffic in that area.
“There has to be some other land available somewhere that is not at that intersection. It didn’t work for Hickory, that is why the school district moved it to Division, so I am surprised,” Sheppard said “I wonder why they are going back to that neck of the woods.”
Shaw said the 3M plant, which has been around since the 1960s, operates different than it did 15-20 years ago and there have been no recent concerns raised about smells coming from the plant.
“We’ve already had conversations with 3M in regards to us buying the property. They’ve talked to us about egress in and out,” he said.
A representative from 3M said Monday that no one was available to talk to the media until next week.
Last month, BNSF Railway sent a letter to P&Z outlining concerns with the proposed Pipkin site, which ranged from limited access for first responders in case of emergency to the need for fencing.
The railway noted the tracks that run along the west side of the property are heavily used and routinely see 30 trains or more per day.
Shaw said the district has been working with the city’s liaison to the railway and looking for solutions.
“We had intended and planned on a fence going along the west side of the property because of the railroad tracks and there is even consideration, depending on where things fall with the budget, of do we fence the entire property?” Shaw said. “We absolutely had planned to have a pedestrian walkway that would go over the tracks.”
Claudette Riley covers education for the News-Leader. Email tips and story ideas to criley@news-leader.com.
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