By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Construction of the new high school in Hays on East 13th Street, just east of the current facility which will be remodeled into the middle school, will also involve traffic improvements on the site and the public roadways leading to the schools.
Hays USD 489 and the city of Hays are working together on plans for 13th St. and the increase in traffic that will occur.
Jesse Rohr, city public works director, showed maps at Thursday's city commission work session of the proposed changes. They include two right-turn lanes off 13th St. onto the school campus, lane configuration changes at 13th and Canterbury, signal light detection upgrades, and crosswalk refuge islands.
The city's focus is on the public roadways, and "our team has been involved every step of the way," Rohr told commissioners.
The improvement plans are based on current and future traffic counts, turning movements, and best engineering practices to ensure minimal traffic issues, especially during peak times of traffic.
Proposed on-site improvements include a long, one-way drive for traffic entering onto the campus, which when coupled with staggered start and stop times for the two schools, will help reduce traffic congestion and stacking of vehicles on the public streets.
Construction along 13th St. will occur during the 2024 construction season in conjunction with the 13th St. road-widening project from Anthony Dr. to Commerce.
The new high school opening is planned for August 2025. The existing high school will then be converted to the middle school.
Commissioners also heard from Eric Flax, chief executive officer of First Care Clinic, 105 E. 13th.
Flax is requesting two dedicated, limited-time parking places in front of the clinic's new pharmacy which is nearing completion. The entrance is on Main Street, just north of the 13th Street intersection.
In 2003, the commission approved a similar request from the Hadley Center which has a select number of "Visitors Only-60 minutes" angle parking spaces on 7th Street.
Commissioners talked at length about the project expressing concern about the perception of a lack of adequate parking in downtown Hays and the need for time enforcement by the police department.
The pharmacy is part of an expansion project by the clinic which is seeing more patients and expects to hire more staff, according to Flax.
"We have quite a volume of people in and out of our clinic and we're trying to fill a need for our patients," Flax said.
The clinic owns two parking lots to the west and north of its facility.
The commission asked city attorney Don Hoffman to draft a basic enforcement ordinance for the two spots which would allow 15-minute parking for pharmacy patients during business hours.
The request will be discussed further at a future work session.
A ten-minute executive session was held at the end of the meeting for discussion of real property acquisition. It included Doug Williams, Grow Hays executive director. A similar 20-minute special session was held at the May 22 city commission meeting.
Commissioner Alaina Cunningham was absent.