By Michael Howell
Two Stevensville High School students, Casey Cook and Austin Potton, have taken on the task of establishing a Stevensville FFA Ag Center to be built on the school district grounds as their senior projects.
The idea is to build a facility that could house up to 50 animals on 4.48 acres of ground at the north end of the school’s property just on the west side of the railroad tracks and the ditch.
FFA Advisor Josette Hackett is serving as project supervisor. The students presented their project to the school board and with a recommendation from Superintendent Bob Moore the project was approved on July 14, 2015.
Because the school district property has been annexed into the Town of Stevensville and the town has an Animal Ordinance that restricts the numbers of some livestock and prohibits others, the students went before the Stevensville Town Council last week and asked for a variance to the ordinance to allow for their proposal.
The students explained that the project had educational benefits and would benefit kids in the community that can’t keep animals for the Fair on their property. It would provide an opportunity for learning by providing familiarity with vaccination practices and worming programs. Students at the school would have easy access to the facility and animal care could become more integrated with classroom learning.
Issues of odor and animal control were discussed and the students said they were aware of the issues and it was being considered in the design and in the policies that would govern use of the center.
Mayor Gene Mim Mack explained that the town’s animal ordinance did not have any provision for granting variances. But, he said, the code could be changed, the ordinance could be amended, it was just a long process and could take up to two months before it was finally effective.
The Council voted 3 to 0 (Councilor Bill Perrin was absent) to instruct the Mayor to proceed with crafting a draft ordinance that would allow the construction of the Ag Center at the school.
On another 3 to 0 vote, the Council approved the submission of a grant application for the Stevensville Streetscape Project Phase II.
The Stevensville Main Street Association previously received a grant to do streetscape improvements along the core of downtown Main Street and the improvements were installed in 2012. Those improvements included sidewalk repairs, and construction of bulb outs with benches and trash cans. The project cost about $500,000 and required a local match of $67,000. The Stevensville Main Street Association raised about $67,000 in cash and in-kind labor to meet the match. The Town’s contribution was about $17,000 worth of in-kind labor.
The current proposal to do Phase II is estimated to cost about $1.1 million but no local match is required. The Phase II project includes installing stamped and colored crosswalks and/or colored intersections at four Main Street locations; lighting fixtures on three blocks that would replace existing highway street lights, many of which are in the middle of the sidewalk; bike racks at four Main Street intersections and at the library; flashing speed warning signs at the north and south ends of the four blocks on Main Street; extension of the bicycle path along the river, which ends at the Forest Service building, about a third of a mile east to Wildfowl Lane, the south entrance to the Lee Metcalf national Wildlife Refuge; and extension of the sidewalk about 400 feet east on Middle Burnt Fork from where it currently ends to Park Street.
In other business at its July 23 meeting, the Stevensville Town Council:
• approved eight change orders related to the Wastewater Treatment Plant improvements for a total cost of $22,404.52
• approved submittal of a TSEP grant for $15,000 to conduct a storage site analysis of the town’s water system and do some leak detection.
• tabled a motion to reconsider the approval of Lewis and Clark Park for a bike camp until the conditional use permit for an alternative site is obtained.