BROWNSTOWN — An official with Brownstown Central Community School Corp. recently laid out the details of a proposal to provide greater access for school buses and parents entering and leaving the area of the elementary school to town council members.

“We have a major safety concern at our elementary school. We have one way in and out,” Assistant Superintendent Jade Peters said. “If something blocks that road, then our kids are stuck there or we cannot have school, so it has always been a dream to find a second entrance.”

The school recently purchased some ground from Lucas and Ackerman Holding Inc. that could be used to address that concern, he said.

That 6.15-acre piece of property is located to the northwest of the elementary school and could be connected to Commerce Street if the town would approve extending Water Street to the south on an existing easement.

That easement is still available for the extension of Water Street because at one time, Lucas and Ackerman had planned to build a subdivision on the property and did not want to landlock the parcel, Peters said.

He asked the council during their recent meeting at the town hall about the process of getting Water Street extended to the property purchased by the school.

“Our architects are working on a design,” Peters said.

He said this past week, he attended a meeting about a second round of funding being made available by the state through the Regional Economic Acceleration and Development Initiative grant program.

Those monies could be used to pay for a lot of the paving for the proposed extension of Water Street if there are enough local matching funds, Peters said.

Peters said to be eligible for the READI grant, the project must provide housing, so the school corporation is looking at the feasibility of developing seven to nine total home sites.

He said the housing would benefit the town by bringing new people in and the school, as well.

“We need students,” Peters said. “The biggest problem we have right now is enrollment keeps going down nearly every year, so we need places to live. There’s no new housing going on anywhere in Brownstown.”

Peters said school officials also have talked with Hoosier Christian Village about adding a third entrance to the elementary school off Sugar Street between the nursing home’s independent living apartments. There is presently an area between those apartments on the east side of Sugar Street that is not platted and could be used as a street to the school.

That proposed street if built also could connect with Water Street once it is extended south.

“I just kind of wanted to get your thoughts and input,” Peters said.

In the long run, Peters said the thought might be to have the students in the high school’s new building trades classes construct the houses on the property. That might not be possible, however, because the class could only build one house a year, and restrictions governing the length of time READI grant funds need to be spent might prevent that from happening.

“That would be a great thing for our kids and our community, as well,” he said if it was possible to do.

Peters said the goal overall is to get Water Street in place by August 2024.

President Gregg Goshorn told Peters that the project is something he thought the council would be willing to help out with.