There are plenty of heated battles going on in school board elections across the state but citizens in the SE Polk school district are up in arms over Pleasant Hill’s effort to plant an industrial warehouse in the shade of the their school’s campus – making for what they say is a dangerous mix of heavy truck traffic and kids.

Visit their website  http://www.citizensforsep.org/  and the Keep Our SEP Kids Safe Facebook Page to find out how you can help and who to vote for.

Here are their top 5 issues.    Bravo, Citizens for SEP for believing in Democracy, organizing and putting up a helluva fight!

1. BROKEN PROMSE. Pleasant Hill’s long term planning and land use documents all banned industrial zoning when SEP built its high school in what Pleasant Hill said would be a “community in a garden”. Pleasant Hill should keep its promise to SEP.

2. SEMI FATALITIES. According to Iowa DOT statistics, semis cause twice as many fatalities per mile as cars. The warehouse would bring thousands of new semis through our the intersection with SEP’s main campus entrance every day. Intentionally mixing this dramatically increased level of semi traffic with inexperienced student drivers will have catastrophic impacts.

3. TRUCKING DISTRICT. The first phase of the warehouse, taken alone, would be the largest of its kind in Iowa (nearly the size of Jordan Creek), with room to double in size. This scale of development attracts more warehouses, trucks stops, and “lumpers” (day laborers loitering for physical labor), along with a host of other unintended consequences.

4. POLLUTION.  Semis pollute 25x as much harmful pollutants per mile as cars. What’s worse is that semis at warehouses typically idle for hours on end. According to the EPA, this kind of pollution statistically increases the rates of asthmatic reactions in children in nearby schools.

5. CHARACTER.  Southeast Polk High School has been in the same location for 50 years as a central location for the district’s various communities. The character of the area has always been rural, clean, and attractive. The school and the character of the area are now resources that draw families and businesses into the district. Pleasant Hill has a duty to preserve the integrity of the area by only permitting residential and light commercial development as it originally promised.

(click here to read more at the Citizens for SEP website)

Wherever you live, vote today!  Click here to find your polling location

Or in Polk County go to this handy interactive map http://apps2.polkcountyiowa.gov/gisapp/polling/default.htm