12-acre lot cleared of trees for future school

$12.8 million project will develop site on Ruddell Road

By Diane Huber | The Olympian • Published September 11, 2008

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About 12 acres of trees came down this week in southeast Lacey to make way for a new elementary school in North Thurston Public Schools.

The $12.8 million project is paid for by a $112 million bond approved by voters in February 2006, along with some state funds.

The school, slated to open in fall 2009, will accommodate 550 students. The 13-acre forested property is on Ruddell Road between Yelm Highway and 64th Avenue Southeast.

"We're leaving as much natural vegetation as we can," said Shawn Lewis, assistant superintendent of administrative services. However, most of the trees had to be removed to make way for the building, parking lot and ballfields, he said.

Some parents and youths are saddened by the loss, as the forested area included a bicycle track, nearby resident Debbie Maxin said.

Her son Monty, now 26, started riding in the forest when he was about 12, and the area became known informally as "Monty's track," she said.

He and other boys packed down the dirt and built jumps, she said. Several boys watched forlornly as the trees came down, she added.

"You have to make way for progress; we need schools. It's just sad that it's gone now," Maxin said.

The new school will help take pressure off of nearby Horizons Elementary. Horizons has been split into two campuses since the 2007-08 school year, when enrollment approached 800 students. The new school will open to kindergarten through fifth-grade students.

Horizons Intermediate, which has served Horizons' fifth- and sixth-graders, will become a middle school with sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders — part of the district's transition to moving sixth-graders to middle school.

Lewis said the district is considering removing trees on two additional forested properties that will be used for future schools. One is a 40-acre plot at the corner of Mullen and Marvin roads; the other is 70 acres on Marvin Road in the Hawks Prairie area. Both attract squatters and dumping, Lewis said. Fencing also could be an option.

"Cutting down the trees would be a last resort," he said.

Diane Huber covers education and features for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-357-0204 or dhuber@theolympian.com.