BY ANDREA TORTORA
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT THOMAS -- Memorial Parkway will not be rerouted around the Highlands campus, where a new middle school and high school are under study, the Fort Thomas School Board voted Monday.
The decision pleased some residents whose homes stood to be affected by the roadway shift. But many other residents still have concerns about plans for new school buildings.
"The board is just now hearing these reports," board President Cindy Jones said.
Engineers first presented the board and about 100 residents with reports on traffic flow. Those studies found that 80 precent of the traffic on Memorial Parkway where it connects with North Fort Thomas Avenue south of the school campus stays on Memorial Parkway.
After considering the issues of on-street parking, the road's condition and the physical restructuring that would be required to reroute Memorial Parkway, the engineers recommended that the district keep the roads as they are.
Fort Thomas Schools and city officials were discussing with the Kentucky Highway Department the possible closure and realignment of Memorial Parkway where it meets North Fort Thomas Avenue at the Highlands campus.
That project would have taken four homes.
The board will now ask the city to consider placing stop signs or other signs at the "Y" intersection.
Plans for new middle school and high school buildings are still in the development stages. The board has yet to take any final votes.
Architects with Steed Hammond Paul and Human Nature Inc. discussed five different ways the district could put the two buildings, a 100-space parking garage under the middle school, a theater, a football stadium, practice fields and parking on the existing Highlands campus.
Each plan shows the middle school on the north end of campus, where the staff parking lot is now. The new high school is situated to the south of the current building, on the hill the slopes down to the area called "death valley."
The variables are the location of parking lots, a theater and gymnasium building, athletic fields, common outside areas and the board of education office.
One parking lot could be located across the street from the high school; another could be terraced into the hillside behind the school.
"I'm all for good schools, and I think we've got the finest," said Bruce Rath, who lives on North Fort Thomas Avenue. "But I think these green space issues are going to affect my property and my neighbors."
Architects Mark Costello and Chris Manning said the plans are still preliminary, but they did not expect large amounts of residential property to be needed.
The district will build the structures in two phases. The middle school would be built first. The current building would be used as the high school until the new high school is completed.
"The board's best interest is making this an educational space that fits into the community," Ms. Jones said. "One issue that concerns me is safety."
There are 1,173 students crammed into the Highlands High-Middle School building and mobile classrooms on the front lawn.
Student growth projections for 20 years show the district needs a high school for 1,000 students and a middle school for 750 students. That's what the district is planning for, even though Superintendent Larry Stinson said there has been a slow-down in enrollment increases.
The Highlands Middle School would be three floors, with students in grades 6, 7 and 8 each on their own floor.
Helen and Louis Hlebiczki, who live on Memorial Parkway, questioned the need for the new buildings.
"We heard tonight that there is a slowdown in growth," Mr. Hlebiczki said. "Maybe we don't need these schools. There are some people who will gain from this but most will lose. There will be higher taxes."
The school board estimates the new middle school would cost and $15 million. The most recent estimate for the new high school places the cost between $22 million and $25 million.
