Bullard High sports facilities project criticized

Construction of sports facilities at Bullard High School, including a new pool and track, will create significant traffic and parking problems on nearby streets, according to a draft environmental report.

Fresno Unified School District officials had concluded nearly a year ago that the project would have little effect on the streets around the school because of its plans to handle traffic surges.

But a neighborhood group, Bullard Parents for Campus and Community Safety, insisted that school events already create parking problems on nearby streets, and they pressured the district in February to commission a more detailed environmental study.

The 237-page draft report — and hundreds of pages of attachments — was made public last month. It validated traffic and parking concerns raised by the group, though it also concluded those problems could be partially offset.

The public has an opportunity to comment on the draft through Jan. 27 before the final report is approved.

The facilities will still be built, but district officials are now promising a more aggressive effort — both in terms of working with neighbors and broadening the range of concrete actions — to minimize the project’s effects.

Jeanette Jurkovich, one of the neighbors concerned about the project, declined to discuss the report. Jurkovich became a lightning rod after she spoke out against the project, pitting her against some neighbors who supported the district.

The additional study delayed the project, which is among $13 million in upgrades to aging sports facilities at seven Fresno high schools.

But in an e-mail sent on behalf of the Bullard Parents for Campus and Community Safety, she reiterated support for the pool and track upgrades as well as other building plans.

“Our group’s concerns have been, and continue to be, firmly centered on the safety issues that will result from drawing regional events to the school without providing the necessary parking and traffic improvement to accommodate those uses and eliminate those risks,” the e-mail stated.

The draft report said parking problems in the surrounding neighborhood — even with the district’s proposed plan to manage traffic — will be significant and unavoidable. It went on to call the parking scenario “a legitimate public safety and aesthetics concern.”

Ruth Quinto, Fresno Unified’s deputy superintendent, said the district understands the neighbors’ concerns and will take steps to minimize the project’s effect on the neighborhood.

Other schools also are surrounded by homes, Quinto said. “There are going to be significant impacts as a result of events that are held at any high school campus,” she said.

The Bullard project involves replacing the pool and building tiered concrete seating for up to 2,000 spectators. A 4,200-square-foot support building that includes equipment storage, bathrooms and an office also will be built. A new track would include nine lanes, floodlights on 75-foot poles, a new jump pit and discus throwing area.

Bullard’s pool, which leaks and is half the size of pools at nearby Clovis and Central Unified schools, would double in size to become the largest in the district.

Fresno Unified said it’s possible the district may hold swim meets attracting 1,000 or more spectators up to four times a year, including one large championship meet that could draw 2,000 people.

School trustee Michelle Asadoorian, who represents the Bullard area, said the school is unlikely to attract as many as 2,000 people to events. But if that does happen, Bullard will work with experts and law enforcement to control traffic and parking “to make sure that the neighbors have little if no impact,” she said.

By Tracy Correa / The Fresno Bee