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YOUNGSVILLE, La. (AP) — As a dispute rages over what to name a new high school in Youngsville, the city's mayor says it appears that road improvements are needed as part of the school's construction.
Youngsville Mayor Ken Ritter tells The Advocate (http://bit.ly/1Y9MRoJ) he's looking for the Lafayette School Board to contribute financially toward the infrastructure costs. But School Superintendent Donald Aguillard said there's no money in the school system's budget to help pay for infrastructure.
The request for financial support from the school board comes in the midst of a very public turf war over the future name of the high school after an advisory committee's ranking order of its preferred names had the suggestion of Youngsville High below two others: Caneview High and Cypress High.
Ritter has spoken in support of naming the school Youngsville High, but says he's not stuck on that name. And, he said, the request for financial help is unrelated to the name dispute.
Youngsville's city council approved the 90-acre plat carved out for the new high school last week, but attempts to tack on extra costs for road improvements needed for the development as a condition for the approval were unsuccessful.
The city is investing about $750,000 in water and sewer infrastructure for the school, but the road improvements are still needed, Ritter said. He said similar requests have been made in the past for developments in the city and the plat consideration process is the time to discuss such issues.
"We require all the time for developers to put turning lanes off of any major (road)," Ritter said. "It's consistent with what we've done on other plats."
Aguillard said Friday that Ritter and other Youngsville officials have not previously discussed the potential for the board to contribute financially to any road improvements near the school site.
Aguillard said money for infrastructure improvements isn't in the school's $66 million budget.
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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com
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