Council hears concerns over safe routes for students

The Fallon City Council heard public comment about safe routes to school for students and approved a contract for pickleball courts at the May 2 meeting.

Churchill County High School Indian Education Family Liaison Catherine Coval spoke to the council about the Nevada “Safe Routes to School” program.

According to the website, SRTS is an initiative through the Nevada Department of Transportation that works to make it safe, convenient and fun for children to walk and bicycle to and from schools to increase their health and physical activity and to lower congestion from school traffic.

Coval said that Fallon had been evaluated eight years ago and a plan was created to add more sidewalks and bike lanes. She expressed her concern that eight years had passed without completing this plan, particularly on the east side of town near the schools.

She described the route of a student who rides a bike between Kaiser Street and E.C. Best Elementary as an example. At various points along the route there are streets with unavoidable speed bumps and streets without bike lanes or sidewalks. She also said that a younger student could have a difficult time safely crossing Taylor Street.

The Churchill County school bus system will not transport a student who lives under two miles from school.

“I just wanted to make an effort to say, ‘Let’s do something.’ I want to get our kids to school safely,” Coval said.

A construction contract for the Oats Park Pickleball Courts Project was approved with Hammond Homes & Construction of Fallon for $607,500. The two existing tennis courts at Oats Park will be demolished and converted into six outdoor pickleball courts.

Public Works Director Brian Byrd said that he is very excited about this project. It has been difficult to schedule enough games to keep up with the demand of this very popular sport in conjunction with other activities at the City-County Gym. He said the Oats Park tennis courts have been temporarily converted with painted pickleball court lines around the painted tennis court lines.

The pickleball project will also include a double bench with shade canopy, concrete walkway improvements around the exterior compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, new fencing and gates, water bottle filling stations, netting, new LED lights and state-of-the-art court surfacing. A completion date is tentatively set for mid-August.

The Lockwood tennis courts still are available at the 3C Event Complex, 227 Sheckler Road. Tennis courts at CCHS are not available for public use.

Summer projects are already underway at Oats Park as previously reported. A splashpad and three shaded event pavilions are currently under construction along West Park Street north of the municipal outdoor pool. A cement slab, an outdated bathroom and maintenance building, a few trees and a single event pavilion were removed to make room for the new structures.