The $1.5 million construction bond for Ririe Joint School District 252’s new bus barn project did not garner the two-thirds vote needed to pass during the May 17 election.

The district proposed a bond which would allow them to build a 60 by 100 foot single-slope steel building with three bus bays to replace the current bus facility.

According to Superintendent Jeff Gee in an article of the March 9 edition of The Jefferson Star, construction of a new bus barn has been on every bond since he began serving the district in 2019.

The district proposed to build the new bus barn on the corner of Main Street and Hewitt, land which the district already owns. They intended to tear down the existing facility and construct a new one, large enough to have office space and bus bays large enough to perform regular maintenance on district vehicles.

Nearly half of voters voted against the construction bond, illustrating to the district that nearly fifty percent of Ririe Residents were opposed to it. In the past, one such individual expressed his opposition to the bus barn construction.

Local business owner Chad Ambrose addressed the Ririe City Council on April 12 in regard to his opposition to the location of the proposed bus barn.

According to Ambrose, he had been told by the city’s previous Planner that he was unable to open a new feed store or a new hardware store on Main Street due to zoning conflicts. He said the Planner told him the storage nature of such businesses wouldn’t be in accordance with the zoning on Main Street.

A bus barn, Ambrose believes, is also a storage-type facility by nature.

“I don’t think it’s right that we couldn’t do something, but the school can do what they want and do exactly what we were saying,” Ambrose said to the council. “It’s storage buildings, that’s gonna tear down another historic building.”

Instead of building a bus barn on Main Street, Ambrose believes the city should do everything they can to help the district face growth in a pro-active way, instead of reactive. He believes the district should construct a new elementary school near the high school, and place a new bus barn behind the schools.

The current Ririe Elementary School requires various maintenance upgrades, according to the district’s bond information for their second bond, which also failed during the May 17 election.

The maintenance and equipment bond, which was slated for another $1.5 million, focused on maintenance projects which have bee putt off for years, the bond pamphlet stated. These repairs included an update to the elementary school’s HVAC system, window and door replacements, roof repair, parking lot repair and a playground upgrade.

“This town is going to grow whether any of us needs it or not,” Ambrose said at the April 12 meeting. “We need to do what we can do to help the school, get an elementary built out there and the bus barn behind it. That’s a better place for it.”

Ambrose continued by stating main street is already congested with large trucks coming through and mentioned his belief that the schools would be better off if they all stayed in one area.

He further stated that Ririe Elementary does not have adequate square footage to accommodate all of the students in their building and in the playground and suggested the City Council and the Ririe Joint School District Board of Trustees work together to discuss and address the problems.

According to Ambrose, the districts holds many parcels of property along Ririe’s Main Street, which makes it difficult for businesses and development to revitalize the street. He believes if the district were to sell the properties they own, they could invest the money acquired into their necessary construction projects.

“I don’t want to see Ririe as big as Rigby, but we could at least clean up our main street, make it more attractive and get a few more businesses in here,” Ambrose said.

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