Little Elm town workers dug holes Wednesday outside Coy Miller Elementary School to place school zone traffic signs that several parents have noticed were missing at the new campus.
Assistant Chief Greg Wilkerson with the Little Elm Police Department said getting the new traffic rules in place has been a slow process due to the make-up of that area, the Frisco Ranch neighborhood.
Miller is part of the Frisco Independent School District but has a Little Elm address. It's not really in Little Elm though. The neighborhood around most of the school is actually in the jurisdiction of the Denton County Fresh Water Supply District 8C.
Except for a small portion on Doe Creek Road, which falls under Little Elm, it's actually up to the water district to get those signs put into place.
But it's not that simple.
Denton County Commissioner Hugh Coleman said that special tax districts often can't set traffic rules like that in place and require a jurisdiction's help to make that happen.
In this case, Wilkerson said that the water district contracted with Little Elm for law enforcement in the Frisco Ranch neighborhood. They also worked with the town to get the proper traffic studies done in the area and get those signs placed.
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Wilkerson said town staff were just awaiting payment to get that moving, but with so many layers in the situation, that too is a slow process.
So Little Elm, in order to get those signs up for the safety of kids and families at the school, decided to just move forward and start putting the signs up anyway.
Wilkerson said he's confident that they will be up and the school zones will be posted by the first day of school.
"We want the parents and the students to know that they can feel safe up here at this elementary school; that we're going to have a police presence and the signs will be coming shortly," he said.
Wilkerson said either way, though, Little Elm Police plan to be out in full force throughout the first week of school, at all of their campuses, in order to help motorists get back in the habit of following the school zone policies.
Little Elm Police do have more schools to work with than ever this year. They now have a presence in three different school districts – with the addition of Denton's Braswell High School – and at least one private school.
