Turlock council to discuss Sacred Heart street request

Turlock City Council members will rule Tuesday on a procedural step in Sacred Heart Catholic School’s request to connect its campus, closing a block of Cooper Avenue for good. A vote to move forward would set an April 12 public hearing on the matter.

The block in question is already closed to traffic on school days, allowing about 200 students to run back and forth between classrooms and the school playground. Churchgoers and neighbors raised safety concerns about evening traffic, lack of school drop-off areas and the inability to close off the campus during school time to anyone on foot.

An unofficial school group said they are working on designs for improved traffic flow and better campus landscaping that would be possible if the school is no longer bisected by Cooper Avenue. The school sits between Turlock High and the Turlock library in an older residential section of town.

But several neighbors protested the proposed change, saying traffic from the century-old church regularly disrupts their small neighborhood with its narrow streets, and a permanent closure would pose a hardship for pedestrians.

Turlock planning commissioners deadlocked on the issue, sending the matter to the council on a 3-3 vote.

In other business, the council will discuss services for the homeless. One item asks the council to ratify a grant application for funding to get services to and provide emergency shelter to the homeless, as well as prevention efforts to keep families in their homes.

A second item proposes a forgivable, $120,000 loan be granted to the Turlock Gospel Mission for the purchase of 432 S. Broadway, for a permanent home for their Homeless Assistance Ministry. The ministry has been providing day services to the homeless at the former Turlock Youth Center on East Avenue, which is being sold.

The sale is also up for a vote by the Council. The youth center building, on a triangular block at 1030 East Ave., has an offer from the Knights of Columbus doing business as Turlock Columbian Properties. The city would net slightly less than the $245,000 selling price after sharing closing costs under the proposal.

The city developed the youth center in 1941, but by 2011 it was only used to host dance classes and community events. Maintaining it has become costly and to bring it up to code, especially for use by wheelchairs, was prohibitive, the agenda report says.

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 6:37 PM with the headline "Turlock council to discuss Sacred Heart street request."