By Jennifer Eisenbart
Editor
With the news now out that Gateway Technical College hopes to locate an emergency vehicle training course at the ChocolateFest grounds and public safety training center at the former Kmart in Burlington, the college announced Tuesday it will host a meeting to address concerns of residents.
The meeting will be held Thursday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 100 of the Gateway Technical College building at 496 McCanna Parkway.
GTC Vice President Bill Whyte said Tuesday that the meeting will involve a number of people who can answer concerns that residents have about the EVOC being located next to a residential area.
“We want to get people to answer how often do you run, how often do you use sirens,” Whyte said. “Frankly, I think there’s a little bit more fear, and we want to address that.
“We are going to provide answers to everything we can provide answers to,” he added, saying a handout would be available for people to take with them.
Already residents of the subdivision next to the planned track have been organizing to oppose its proposed construction (see related story). Residents have raised questions about noise, property values possibly dropping, and even possible conflicts of interest with the city working with ChocolateFest – and companies that may be involved.
However, Mayor Bob Miller stressed Tuesday that the project is in a concept phase only. City Council members have not been briefed on the situation, and no plans have been brought before the council.
“This is not a formal plan and hasn’t been a formal plan,” Miller said. “Gateway came to us and said, ‘This is an idea. Do you object if we proceed?’”
Both Whyte and Miller agreed that the idea of bringing both the EVOC track and the public safety training facility to Burlington would serve both the college and the community.
Whyte is enthusiastic about the former Kmart location, saying it was essentially an open space they could modify – with enough sprinklers, electrical infrastructure and parking already in place.
“Number one again, location,” said Whyte. “That’s just Burlington, period. It’s about as central to the gateway district as you can get.
“Number two, it’s a large enough building,” he added. “It’s actually larger than what we need for a public safety training center. And it’s a big empty box. It would be easy to configure.”
Whyte also added that it would benefit Burlington to get the empty building occupied.
“I believe that there’s some real mutual advantages as well,” he said.
Miller was thinking on the same lines.
“It fills the slot where Kmart was for a long-term type of a basis,” Miller said. “It will bring people into Burlington who will be attending the schools. It will give law enforcement officers a better idea of how to handle their vehicles in high-stress situations when need be.”
But while the possibility of using Kmart really wasn’t a point of contention this week, both addressed that residents need to be better informed about the EVOC track location in the ChocolateFest grounds.
“We’ve got some examples of other, not necessarily EVOC tracks, but other heavy traffic areas next to residential areas, in terms of sound barriers,” Whyte said.
He didn’t blame the residents for being nervous, saying he felt questions would be answered.
“I would have the same exact questions if I lived in that neighborhood,” Whyte said. “Hopefully…we’ll walk away saying this is a good deal for everyone.”
Miller added, “It will be all OK. This is not going to be a racetrack. It’s not going to be high-speed chases.”
When talking to Whyte, though, he did see the plan as a package deal.
“I would say it probably is,” he said. “But I would also say I don’t have another alternative.”
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