LASD shows 3 sketches of BCS Co-location Sites

Public Lands Committee Jan. 27, 2016. LASD and City of Los Altos members. Members are taking notes on Public Comments. About a dozen people made a public comment – 90 seconds each. Almost 30 people came to hear the meeting.

BCS Co-location Sites -Egan Junior High

The School District created a design constraint for all three BCS Co-location sites considered; it gave instructions to the architect to not remove or move any existing buildings if at all possible. In the case of Egan, nothing belonging to the district school is moved in this preliminary design. However, construction of this plan for a 3-story BCS building would required the ~450 students now in portables to be housed elsewhere for a year or so.

BCS Co-location sites. Close up of BCS new school building on its current site at Egan Junior High

Figure 3: LASD Architect Concept. Close up of BCS new school building on BCS’s current site at Egan Junior High.

Click here for .pdf of all LASD meeting handouts. Large version of Figure 3.

TRAFFIC AT THE EGAN SITE

City Traffic Engineer, Cedric Novenario explained some desirable changes:

Cedric Novenario explains traffic patterns for LASD BCS Co-location sites including Egan

Cedric Novenario explains traffic patterns for LASD BCS Co-location sites. On screen is Egan.

The existing BCS lot and drop off area along Portola should just be for staff parking. Staff are expected to arrive before parents arrive later.
There will be moveable barrier that prevents through traffic on Portola during Egan and BCS drop off and pick up times. [Lalahpolitico: Because of staggered start-stop times, the total time the barrier is up must be a least 30 to 45 minutes long in the morning? Perhaps only 30 minutes in the afternoon?]
BCS parent car drop off and pickup would be a long narrow driveway with some parking along San Antonio. The school would have to be approached while driving south on San Antonio. A concern is whether commuter traffic heading to 280 will start to backup behind the light at Portola and San Antonio.
After BCS drop off, a parent car would have to drive all the way to Almond Ave. to make a U-turn to head back to Mountain View.
Optionally a traffic light could be added at Jordan and San Antonio. [Lalah saw this Arbuelo idea several years ago. If a signal goes in, the BCS parent exit driveway would align with Jordan.
Egan parent drop off would be confined to Egan’s main parking lot. Parents would not be able to also use the BCS-City gym area because of the traffic barrier.
The best thing about this plan, is that kids walking or biking will much safer when they travel along Portola in front of the BCS-City gym parking lot.
A downside is walking or biking along the BCS side of San Antonio would be more dangerous. There currently is a flashing light crosswalk at Pine and San Antonio.