The Francis Howell School District is moving forward with plans to create a $2.4 million athletic complex at Francis Howell High School.

The Board of Education on Feb. 16 voted 6-1 to approve the plan, which would use money from a bond issue voters approved in November 2008.

The complex will include four grass fields — practice football, softball and two baseball fields for varsity and junior varsity teams. Howell High already has an artificial turf field, but no grass fields for baseball or softball.

Some district residents have voiced opposition to the plan, saying the district should first add artificial turf fields to its two other high schools, Francis Howell Central and Francis Howell North.

But district administrators said the Howell High project takes priority because students there must now travel off campus to practice baseball at Clarence Huster Ballpark off St. Peters-Howell Road.

The new athletic complex will be built over an existing field west of the Howell High campus' new $53 million academic building. A bus parking lot on the south side of the tract houses 53 of the district's 180 buses. In order to accommodate the new ball fields, the district will have to move the bus lot to the tract's northeast corner.

That move sparked opposition from school board member Mike Hoehn, who argued it posed a safety hazard for students. To access the new parking lot, buses would enter from Highway 94 on the tract's south side, then drive north along a paved road separating the athletic complex from the rest of the campus.

Students would have to cross this road to access the ball fields. Hoehn said it would be dangerous to mix student foot traffic and bus traffic. Other board members disagreed. In the end, Hoehn cast the lone dissenting vote.

Voting to approve the plan were board members Marty Hodits, Mark Lafata, Cynthia Bice, Amy McEvoy, Stephen Johnson and board President Mike Sommer.

Earlier in the discussion, Hoehn tried to split the issue into two votes. He motioned to vote on just the ball fields for $1.9 million, then on the bus lot for $500,000. Hoehn suggested the bus lot could be moved to a different site. Superintendent Pam Sloan said she did not know if $500,000 would be enough to cover the move.

Lafata said Hoehn was suggesting alternative locations without any research to determine whether those options would work. "We've hashed this out already," Lafata said. "I don't think we can come up with a better solution that is viable."

The board rejected Hoehn's motion to split the vote.

Hodits said a similar situation existed at Howell North, where students have to cross a roadway in order to access ball fields. Hodits said there had never been a bus incident at North. Bus drivers and parent drivers are aware the kids are present and use caution, he said, just as they would at Howell High. Hodits said buses would not even be at Howell High after school while practice takes place.

Hoehn said many more students would be crossing in front of buses at Howell High compared to North, so the comparison was not accurate.

Johnson said that in a perfect world, the district would redesign North, add artificial turf fields to North and Central high schools, and create the Howell High athletic fields all at the same time. But this is not a perfect world, and the safety concerns expressed were not significant enough to stop the Howell High project from moving forward, Johnson said.

Instead, Johnson said, the district should be more concerned about what would happen in five years when the expanded Howell High would require additional buses, but the district would have no place to park them.