School officials unveiled three possibilities for golf cart parking at the Starr’s Mill school complex during a meeting Monday where they also stressed a need to get the word out to parents that a proposal to allow students to use golf carts on nearby Peachtree City cart paths is moving forward.
“We want the public to know we are continuing to work on this,” School Superintendent Joseph Barrow told Fayette County Board of Education members Monday during a work session where they were also presented with several other projects to think about before making decisions.
“The intent is for the board and the public to know we’re working on this,” Barrow added. “We are working to see what would be feasible. If the city and county are able to put in pathways (that will connect to existing paths), we are ready to look at some options. “I think you can see there has been some good talk been put into it.”
The three projects range in cost from $45,000 to $125,000, but each has its own pros and cons.
The $125,000 option garnered the most attention from board members for several reasons — the inclusion of students from Millpond Manor and The Chimneys subdivisions, safety, and the potential loss of existing parking places.
For safety reasons, schools officials to do not like for golf carts and automobiles to mix and the less expensive plans would not allow students from Millpond Manor and The Chimneys to drive golf carts without some shared space with cars.
The most expensive plan also calls for the addition of a new parking lot for golf carts and will not eliminate any existing spaces for teacher or student car parking.
“When enrollment goes up, and I know it will, you would have given yourself some breathing room” and not create a situation where more work would be needed, board member Bob Todd said of the option.
Fayette County’s McIntosh High School in Peachtree City has a very successful golf cart program with about 300 to 500 golf carts parked at the school each day. Students who are 15 years old and have a learner’s permit may drive the carts to school. Parents also use the carts to drop off and pick up students.
The Starr’s Mill complex, located just south of Peachtree City’s southern limits, includes Peeples Elementary School, Rising Starr Middle School and Starr’s Mill High School, which does not have a program for 15-year-old student golf cart drivers.
A plan to develop a cart path for Starr’s Mill was created by student interns working with the Fayette County government and has been given tacit approval, but school officials are waiting for pathway work to begin before installing parking areas.
Board members were also given several construction projects to mull over, which caused them to ask for an overall plan on how funds from a SPLOST, or Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, for schools will be spent.
A one-percent sales tax earmarked for schools was set to end in April 2014, but voters approved a five-year extension of the tax. Since collections from the extension are rolling in, board members want a overall plan for spending so they can see a long term plan for the money.
When voters approved the sales tax extension, they agreed to allow $37 million to be spent on curriculum, instruction and technology and $35 million on maintenance, renovations and modifications, and also agreed to some other expenditures like $10 million to pay off bond debt.
“I want a big picture of where SPLOST is going, not piecemeal here and there,” board Chairman Marion Key said. “If we could have a plan, a kind of a timeline, it would help us.”
“I think we’re all a little frustrated about getting nickel and dimed to death,” board member Barry Marchman said.
Todd echoed the sentiment and said, “There needs to be something somewhere that shows how we’re going to spend this money … or are we’re going to wind up having spent it all on transportation and facilities.”
In Barrow’s experiences with other school systems, the plan was usually more detailed before it was taken to the voters, he told board members. The staff is “playing catch up” to some degree because the SPLOST was approved with broad spending categories. However, he will work on an overall spending plan for board members.
Among the projects discussed were new gyms for North Fayette and Peachtree City elementary schools that do not have gyms equal to the size quality of the county’s other elementary schools, and a new press box for Fayette High School.
